Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), one of the key conservative members in the House of Representatives, predicted on Fox News on Thursday that President Barack Obama’s threats of unilateral amnesty are all smoke and no fire.
“I don’t think he will [do an executive amnesty],” Gohmert said when Fox News’ Neil Cavuto asked him if it’s an “impeachable offense” for the president to grant executive amnesty to upwards of five million illegal aliens.
Gohmert’s comments came in response to the president’s latest remarks on ISIS and immigration on Thursday afternoon. During the remarks, President Obama confessed that “we don’t have a strategy yet” for dealing with ISIS, but he also promised that an executive action on immigration is coming.
“That has kept us busy, but it has not stopped the process of looking more broadly about how do we get a smarter immigration system in place,” Obama said of the border crisis that’s seen tens of thousands of illegal alien children flood across the border this year.
“If I can’t see congressional action, I have to do at least what I can,” Obama added in remarks to reporters on Thursday. “Have no doubt: in the absence of congressional action, I’m going to do what I can to make sure the system works better.”
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), arguably the leading force behind amnesty in the House of Representatives, has warned America to get ready for a wide-scale executive action on immigration.
“It’s music to my ears that someone would have a source at the White House that says it’s five million [illegal aliens who get executive amnesty],” Gutierrez said. “Let me just say, tomorrow, the next day, and all of this week we’re getting ready.”
It’s still unclear exactly what Obama will do–if anything–since he’s been stringing Americans along for months, threatening executive actions without actually making any moves. Immigration hawks, especially Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), have said the consequences of President Obama’s actions–if he takes them–would be drastic.
“If implemented, the President’s new executive actions would functionally end what little remains of interior immigration enforcement, giving free license to every person in the world–here today or planning to come tomorrow–to violate our immigration laws with impunity,” Sessions said.
The major political calculation the president is making is that, if he moves forward with such a plan, he’ll definitely lose Democratic control of the U.S. Senate. So says Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)–who has supported amnesty through Congress in the past but is toughening up his position on immigration now, after widespread criticism since he championed the “Gang of Eight” bill through the Senate last year.
“I think if he makes this decision before the elections–it’s him conceding control of the Senate,” Rubio said in an interview with Breitbart News this week. “If you take an executive decision of this magnitude, politically it will be disastrous for Democrats in a number of key states around the country.”
With candidates like Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR), North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, and Alaska GOP nominee Dan Sullivan, among others, failing to thus far gain big momentum against their red state Democrat incumbent opponents, Democrats–including Obama–may be making that exact same calculation: The Senate may not sweep into Republican hands in November as easily as many in the GOP establishment thought.
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