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On Wednesday, House Republicans sued President Obama for acting on his own without approval from Congress. On Thursday, House Republicans told President Obama he should act on his own to fix the border crisis
In a statement following the decision to abruptly scrap a vote on the measure, Boehner and his fellow GOP leaders tried to put the onus back on Obama, saying the president had the power to act unilaterally, "without the need for congressional action," to respond to the crisis.
There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries."
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) attempted to blame the debacle on Obama, saying Republicans didn’t trust him enough to enforce the law, so they came out in opposition to their own leadership’s proposal.
Rep. Devin Nunes, who would have supported the legislation, said there is a group of GOP lawmakers who aren’t interested in governing. “You just had a lot of members who just don’t want to vote for anything,” the California Republican said. “We have to get to 218 votes or you can’t pass anything.”
Is it Nancy Pelosis's fault? Is it Obama's fault?
The GOP thinks it's Obama's fault that they are incompetent at doing their job.
originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: muse7
It's the EXECUTIVE branch's job to enforce the immigration laws.
Congress just makes the laws.
Government 101.
“This is a piece of legislation we’re very proud to sign,” a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, told reporters on Dec. 23, 2008, as the president put his pen to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, named for a 19th-century British abolitionist. “This program has been very effective around the world in trying to stop trafficking in persons.”
Now the legislation, enacted quietly during the transition to the Obama administration, is at the root of the potentially calamitous flow of unaccompanied minors to the nation’s southern border.
Originally pushed by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers as well as by evangelical groups to combat sex trafficking, the bill gave substantial new protections to children entering the country alone who were not from Mexico or Canada by prohibiting them from being quickly sent back to their country of origin.
There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries.
That's a pretty simplistic way of looking at it. If the president would allow the border patrol to do their job, then those people wouldn't be entering into the country in the first place. Also, in many cases, "being processed" in this instance is bringing them to a hanger or some other building, holding them temporarily, then releasing them into the general population. Children are being released without being fingerprinted and their destinations are unknown. So there's no way to know if they are being used/abused in any way and no way to follow up.
originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: loam
And doesn't current immigration law state that immigrants surrendering themselves at the border must be taken into custody and processed? Seems to me that current immigration law is being enforced. If people aren't happy with the current refugee crisis, then they need to appeal to Congress to change the law.
TITLE I--COMBATING INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
Sec. 103. Prevention and prosecution of trafficking in foreign countries
‘(i) Additional Measures To Prevent and Deter Trafficking- The President shall establish and carry out programs to prevent and deter trafficking in persons, including--
originally posted by: Blackmarketeer
Muse, let me suggest a correction to your headline - instead of reading "GOP tells Obama to ignore congress one day after suing him for ignoring Congress," it should read "GOP tells Obama to ignore congress one day after suing him for being forced to bypass an obstructionist Congress."
If - IF - Congress has actually done its job, it would never have come to this point. Even now Congress continues to DO NOTHING. It has not put anything on Obama's desk for him to sign. By obstructing everything, they then have the gall to even contemplate something as ridiculous as a lawsuit over him actually doing his job.
Boehner is the leader of the worst Congress this nation has EVER seen.
But less than 24-hours later, lawmakers from Alabama and Mississippi - two bastions of the Old South - peeled away from the bill, multiple GOP lawmakers and aides. Some conservatives claimed that the legislation didn’t go far enough in preventing illegal immigration or barring President Barack Obama from giving “amnesty” to undocumented immigrants already in the country. The leadership’s whip count deteriorated as the vote loomed closer, and Republican leaders were forced into a humiliating retreat.