U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, echoed her party’s criticisms of President Barack Obama after he announced he would unilaterally move on immigration reforms.
“While our nation sorely needs to fix its immigration system, the President’s action undermines the trust he needs to build with the American people to actually get that done,” Herrera Beutler wrote in an email on Friday.
Herrera Beutler said the president’s executive action on immigration overlooks other needed reforms to the immigration system, including; border security measures, high skill visa reform and agricultural visa reform.
Those issues, she said, need to be worked on together, but the president’s decision will likely delay the ability to work through immigration reforms legislatively.
“The President himself stated that he didn’t have the Constitutional authority to go it alone, and then he contradicted those words with this action. Our nation is based on the rule of law determined by representatives directly elected by the people, so it’s bad for our country when this President, or any President, decides to selectively ignore certain laws to fit his agenda,” Herrera Beutler wrote.
Praise from Cantwell, Murray
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, both Democrats from Washington, praised the President’s actions.
“In Washington state and around the country, immigrants are a critical part of our communities. But because of our broken immigration system, these men and women are forced to live in the shadows as Americans in all but name,” Murray said in a statement. “By no means is this a long-term solution. Plain and simple, the only way to fix our immigration system is to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation. But until Congress is able to do that, I applaud the President for his leadership and his actions to support our economy and protect more than 4 million people from unjust law enforcement.”
Murray also placed the blame at U.S. Speaker John Boehner’s feet. The Senate passed a bill making changes to the immigration system, but House Republicans blocked the bill and did not introduce one of their own.
Murray said the Speaker “refused to bring up the Senate bill that we know would also pass in the House of Representatives.”
Herrera Beutler agreed changes to the immigration system need to be made.
“Congress now has a duty to challenge the legality of how he’s gone about this issue, but it also has a duty to put forth real, long-term, bipartisan reforms that fix our immigration system once and for all,” she said.
