Obama Speech Excerpts — Says ‘Real Amnesty’ is Doing Nothing (Video)
The White House has released speech excerpts President Barack Obama plans to deliver on his executive action on immigration:
“That’s the real amnesty – leaving this broken system the way it is. Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character. What I’m describing is accountability – a commonsense, middle ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.
The actions I’m taking are not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican President and every Democratic President for the past half century. And to those Members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”
“Instead of working together to fix our broken immigration system, the president says he’s acting on his own. That’s just not how our democracy works. The president has said before that ‘he’s not king’ and he’s ‘not an emperor,’ but he’s sure acting like one. And he’s doing it a time when the American people want nothing more than for us to work together.”
Before releasing the Obama speech excerpts, the White House detailed the president’s plan in a background briefing earlier Thursday, including a vow to veto any legislation by Republicans to stop the president’s action, even if it would lead to a government shutdown.
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