On Thursday, Jeh Johnson, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said he and President Barack Obama were still committed to executive actions to potentially grant temporary amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
During a question-and-answer session after his speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., Johnson said the Obama administration was still “very committed to taking executive action to fix our broken immigration system” and “developing a set of reforms that [he] would characterize as comprehensive in nature and within our legal authorities.”
Johnson said Obama would act between the midterm elections and the end of the year, which the President also stated at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus dinner last week.
Obama appears to have delayed his executive amnesty to help Senate Democrats retain control of the Senate. Hispanic activists like Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) have since demanded that Obama pay Latinos “interest,” after the White House reportedly asked for “forbearance” for missing the “by the end of summer” deadline that Obama imposed.
In fact, if Obama does not “go big” enough on his executive amnesty, Gutierrez may actually consider running for president to ensure amnesty becomes an even bigger issue during the 2016 cycle. A “Draft Gutierrez” movement is reportedly getting ready to lure Gutierrez into the presidential contest if Obama disappoints the Latino community with his executive amnesty.