White House shrugs off GOP immigration lawsuit

The White House on Wednesday shrugged off Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) plan to sue President Obama over his use of executive action on immigration.

“House Republicans seem to be relying more and more on the courts these days to challenge the president’s authority,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Wednesday. “We believe that we acted within the full bounds of the authority enshrined to the executive branch, and we’ll be defending that.”

Boehner told members of his conference on Tuesday that his leadership team was finalizing litigation protesting Obama’s move to offer deferred deportation and work permits to 5 million illegal immigrants.

The move is seen as an effort to appease conservatives, after leadership pulled a controversial border security bill, and amid concerns from some Republicans that they will be forced to accept a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that does not include provisions rolling back the president’s executive actions.

Last year, the House moved to sue the president over the administration’s delayed implementation of the employer mandate in ObamaCare, which threatens companies who do not offer their workers insurance with fines.

House Democrats have also dismissed the threatened lawsuit.

“Republicans’ radical anti-immigrant legislation is dead on arrival. Once again, House Republicans are crawling to the courts to relieve them of their responsibility to govern,” said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).