President Obama downplayed Tuesday a judge’s ruling that invalidated his immigration executive action, saying “the law is on our side and history is on our side.”
“This is not the first time where a lower court judge has blocked something or attempted to block something that ultimately is going to be lawful and I’m confident that it is well within my authority” to execute this policy, Mr. Obama told reporters during a meeting in the Oval Office.
A federal judge in Texas late Monday halted the president’s temporary deportation amnesty, saying Mr. Obama overstepped his legal authority. The White House said it will appeal.
Mr. Obama said deporting 11 million illegal immigrants is unrealistic, so this “is something that we that we necessarily have to make choices about.”
The president also said he held off taking the action until the White House exhausted all possibilities of enacting comprehensive immigration reform with Congress.
“With a new Congress my hope has been that they now get serious in solving the problem,” he said. “Instead, what we’ve had is a series of votes to kick out young people who have grown up here and who everybody recognizes are part of our community, and threats to defund the Department of Homeland Security which would make it even harder for us to protect our borders and keep our people safe.”
Mr. Obama added: “My strong advice right now to Congress is, if they are seriously concerned about immigration, about our borders, about being able to keep criminals out of this country then what they should be doing is working together and working with the administration for a comprehensive immigration policy that allows us to be both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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