Posted on January 29, 2015

Boehner Defends House GOP Immigration Lawsuit

Alexandra Jaffe, CNN, January 29, 2015

House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday confirmed House Republicans are filing a lawsuit against Obama’s executive action delaying deportations for millions of immigrants here illegally.

“The President’s overreach when he took executive action to deal with the immigration problems in our country, frankly, in my view, is a violation of our Constitution,” he said in an interview on Fox News.

“This isn’t about immigration,” he said. “This is the President violating the Constitution, violating his oath of office, and frankly, not upholding the rule of law.”

Boehner had told House Republicans of the planned lawsuit during their closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

The move comes as House leadership struggles to round up support for a border security bill they planned to vote on this week, in part due to conservative opposition. Conservatives have expressed frustration that leadership hasn’t done enough to oppose Obama’s unilateral action on immigration.

Boehner insisted during the interview that the bill will ultimately pass.

But while the lawsuit may help quell some of those complaints, it’s unlikely to ultimately have much impact on deportations. Boehner turned to a similar tactic on Obamacare, bringing a lawsuit against the administration for delaying the employer mandate that remains stalled in court.

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