Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) late Monday said implementing immigration reform would be “almost impossible” if President Obama continues to sign executive orders to change the system.
“That will make it almost impossible to ever do immigration reform because he will spoil the well to the point where no one will trust him by giving him a new law that he will implement of the way the Congress intended,” Boehner said in an interview on Fox News’s “The Kelly File.”
In February, Boehner said Republicans in Congress wouldn’t budge on the issue this year, until they trusted the Obama administration to enforce laws they pass.
{mosads}“There’s widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws,” Boehner said at the time. “And it’s going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.”
On Sunday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), whose name has been heavily floated as a potential 2016 presidential contender, said people who come to the United States illegally do it out of “an act of love. … It’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime.”
Boehner said he understood Bush’s argument, but added, “we’re also a nation of laws.” Asked if that statement would be a deal breaker if Bush runs for president, Boehner said, “I do not.”
Immigration reform has been a “political football” for the last 15 years, Boehner said, adding he’s tried to get the House to move on it during the last year.
“But every time the president ignores the law like the 38 times he has on ObamaCare, our members look up and go, ‘wait a minute, you can’t have immigration reform without strong boarder security and internal enforcement,’ ” Boehner said.
Immigration reform advocates, meanwhile, have been pushing Obama to improve the system using his executive power.
Obama asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson last month to review the government’s deportation programs.