Thursday, October 10, 2024

Democratic Lawmakers Are Not Backing Down from Urging the President to Act on Immigration

steny

On Wednesday, House Democrats signaled that they would not back down from urging the president to act on immigration as quickly as possible. There is little indication that Republicans in the House of Representatives will put forward a comprehensive immigration bill this year, thus adding to sense of urgency among Democratic lawmakers who have asked the president to use his executive authority promptly.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said, “What the president needs to do is give immediate and significant relief to those families that are being wrenched apart and living in fear. I’m proud to join my colleagues in that request.”

Shortly after the midterm elections, President Obama stated that he was done waiting for Congress to act. Despite growing Republican threats of another government shutdown, the president has indicated that he will do everything in his legal purview to ensure the current immigration system does not deteriorate any further. Obama has been unequivocal about his desire to see the matter resolved legislatively, but after Republicans failed to pass a bipartisan Senate immigration bill in 2013, he recognized an urgent need to act on behalf of the millions of undocumented immigrants could no longer afford to wait.

Rep. Raul Grigalva (D-AZ) noted, “We’ve reached a point now that waiting and waiting and waiting is not the solution.” The lawmaker continued, “The solution is for the president, who I support, to go big to protect all families.”

The Hill