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We Expect the President to Keep His Promise

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Remember Obama’s June 30th Rose Garden speech?

While I will continue to push House Republicans to drop the excuses and act –- and I hope their constituents will too -– America cannot wait forever for them to act.  And that’s why, today, I’m beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, without Congress.  As a first step, I’m directing the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to move available and appropriate resources from our interior to the border.  Protecting public safety and deporting dangerous criminals has been and will remain the top priority, but we are going to refocus our efforts where we can to make sure we do what it takes to keep our border secure.

I have also directed Secretary Johnson and Attorney General Holder to identify additional actions my administration can take on our own, within my existing legal authorities, to do what Congress refuses to do and fix as much of our immigration system as we can.  If Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours.  I expect their recommendations before the end of summer and I intend to adopt those recommendations without further delay. 

As our Executive Director Frank Sharry said in a statement today:

Mr. President, your record on promises made and promises kept in the arena of immigration policy is one of failure.  Keep your promise, take action, be strong and have faith that leaning into this issue is the right thing to do – policy-wise and politically.  Hanging back out of fear is what the Republicans want.  Taking action to address our broken and unjust immigration system is what the majority of Americans want.