WASHINGTON – Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, admonished President Obama today for planning to issue an executive order on immigration.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Smith said it was disappointing “that the president is threatening Congress and threatening the American people with these executive orders.”
“He shouldn’t go it alone. He should work with Congress and then we can come up with a good product,” Smith said.
Obama said that he would likely issue an executive order on immigration before the end of the year. He has not outlined exactly what such an order would do, but Smith claimed it would “give amnesty to millions of people.”
Congress’ attempts to enact immigration reform have failed. Last year, House Speaker John Boehner refused to take up a bipartisan Senate bill that would have offered illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship, and beefed up security along the southern border.
Smith said the Senate bill lacks sufficient border security measures, and it would entice more people to immigrate illegally.
“We’re opposed to that bill because it is massive amnesty, and it never really secures the border,” he said.
The president said yesterday that he would rather that Congress pass an immigration bill than issue an executive order himself. Such a bill would replace whatever action he took.
But he also added that “before the end of the year, we’re going to take whatever lawful actions that I can take, that I believe will improve the functioning of our immigration system.”
According to Smith, Republicans wouldn’t let that slide. He said they would try to block the order by defunding its programs or filing a lawsuit.
Smith said that an executive order on immigration would make it difficult to work with Obama on other legislation.
“When he does this he’s going to frankly poison the barrel and make it awfully hard to work with him on other issues,” Smith said. “If he wants to accomplish anything lasting on immigration, he’s going to have to work with Congress and not just issue these executive orders.”