On Thursday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said House Republicans can’t use the excuse that they don’t trust President Barack Obama to enforce the country’s immigration laws to block amnesty legislation. He then gave Republicans more reasons to distrust Obama by calling on Obama to unilaterally change the nation’s immigration laws and saying that Obama will do so anyway if Congress does not pass amnesty legislation.
“I’m deeply disappointed that the president chose to delay any action,” Gutierrez said on the House floor on Thursday. The Obama administration had decided to delay its deportation review to give Congress six weeks to pass amnesty legislation. House Republicans have said they would not push for immigration legislation if Obama is not going to enforce the nation’s laws and change them at whim.
He noted that he travelled to Orange County, California and Richmond, Virginia to push for changes to the country’s immigration laws and said pro-amnesty colleagues are “not happy” with Obama’s decision.
“The excuse that House Republicans can’t trust President Obama to enforce the law, therefore they will not pass immigration reform — that excuse no longer holds water, if it ever did,” he said, calling Obama’s request to delay the deportation review a “grand gesture” that went against the wishes of Obama’s base that “voted for him, loved him, and protected him.”
A day after pushing for amnesty in House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) district, Gutierrez then promptly said that Cantor “can schedule a vote and the president can use his phone and pen.”
“If the Majority Leader fails to act, the president will and he will do so boldly,” Gutierrez declared.
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