Homeland Security Chief: Amnesty Delay to Avoid 1994 Midterm Repeat

Homeland Security Chief: Amnesty Delay to Avoid 1994 Midterm Repeat

Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson seemed to contradict his boss, President Barack Obama, by suggesting the decision to put of the executive order granting amnesty to upwards of 5 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States until after the November midterm elections was purely political. 

According to Johnson, the moved was designed to avoid Democrats taking heavy losses like they did in 1994 because of overreach with a federal assault weapons ban and a failed attempt to pass health care with the help of then first lady Hillary Clinton.

Johnson citied the 1994 midterm elections, in which more than 50 Democratic seats were lost, as the determining factor saying, “As you know the president has determined we should wait until after the midterm elections to announce what we believe we can and should do to fix the system.”

Johnson said the president reached this decision because “this kind of thing should not be introduced in a politically difficult climate like you had in a run up to an election.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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