immigration

Jon Stewart Discovered the Source of the Problem on Immigration Reform

All we need is for Congress to sit down and reason together, Stewart said. Well, we all know what happened. Nothing.  Again.  Thanks Congress. Your momma must be so proud.

There are so many questions here.  Namely, how does Congress see something like this and not feel a huge sense of shame.  And how do voters not see the disgusting dysfunction and start holding members responsible while they are back home in their districts this summer?

Jon Stewart: “I mean, this is so insane.  We had an urgent crisis on the southern border. The President offers his solution. The Senate can’t even get theirs to an up or down vote. And the House passes a draconian version that somehow moves to the right of itself. At this point can anything be done?”

Enter John Boehner: “There are numerous steps the President can and should take that do not need Congressional action”

Stewart: “Did John Boehner just suggest that if Congress can’t pass a bill to change a law it doesn’t like that the President should?  Cause… I’m pretty sure there’s a guy right now suing the President for…..  that….“

Facebooktwitterpinterestrssvimeotumblrinstagramflickr

Obama: I’m beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system on my own

Congress isn’t going to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  The US Senate has, with enormous bipartisan support, but the House has stalled and republicans are freaking out because Eric Cantor lost in an election where immigration reform was an issue.  The problem is, polling after the Cantor loss shows it wasn’t immigration reform. In fact, his district wants immigration reform. So Congress being spineless for political reasons is just an excuse to hurt people.

The President has been controversial around immigration reform for his large number of deportations, but as young children have begun streaming over the boarder without their families things have become more complicated.

President Obama said today in a speech in the Rose Garden:

“There are enough Republicans and Democrats in the House to pass an immigration bill, today.  I would sign it into law today.  And Washington would solve a problem in a bipartisan way.  But for more than a year Republicans in the House have refused to allow an up or down vote or any bill that would fix our broken immigration system.  I held off on pressuring them for a long time to give Speaker Boehner the space he needed to get his fellow Republicans on board.”

According to a statement from White House, the President will direct Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to take the lead on increasing border security.

“Protecting public safety is and will remain a top priority, and we will continue to focus on removing those who have committed serious crimes from our interior,” the statement said. “But we will redirect other resources to make sure we keep doing what it takes to keep our border secure.

In a letter sent to Congress on Monday, the President called on Congress to help the Office of the President build a much more “aggressive deterrence strategy” while children are continuing to stream in over the border.

 

Facebooktwitterpinterestrssvimeotumblrinstagramflickr