Posted on June 21, 2012

Boehner Says Obama’s Immigration Policy ‘Puts Everyone in a Difficult Position’

Fox 2 (St. Louis), June 20, 2012

House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that President Obama’s new policy temporarily preventing deportation of certain young, illegal immigrants announced last week “puts everyone in a difficult position.”

“I think we all have concerns for those who are caught in this trap through no fault of their own and are here,” Boehner said in his first public reaction to the policy announced Friday.

The Obama administration’s directive will specifically allow people younger than 30 who came to the United States before age 16, pose no criminal or security threat and were successful students or served in the military to apply for a two-year deferral from deportation.

Top GOP leaders were caught off guard by the announcement, and stayed quiet on the issue. {snip}

But many conservative House Republicans immediately blasted the decision last week, and Iowa Republican Rep Steve King announced he planned to sue the Obama Administration.

{snip}

Boehner blamed the President for not working with Congress, saying he didn’t consult with the GOP before making his announcement. “The President’s actions make it much more difficult for us to work on a bipartisan way to get to a permanent solution.”

Noting that the President himself said previously that he couldn’t act on the matter, Boehner told reporters Tuesday, “the question remains, did he violate the Constitution?”

{snip}

“We’ve got to do a comprehensive immigration reform plan that secures our borders, enforced our laws and fixes the problems for these 12 million illegals that are here in our country,” Boehner said.