GOP Bill Would Block Obama Deporation Policy

By Jon E. Dougherty at 20 Jun 2012

(Newsroom America) -- A GOP lawmaker has introduced a measure that would block President Obama's recent policy shift halting deportation proceedings against children of illegal immigrants.

In a White House speech Friday, Obama said his new policy would exclude from deportation of illegal immigrant children who arrived in the country illegally before they were 16, have avoided legal trouble and have graduated high school or joined the military, by allowing them to apply for immunity.

The policy change has been criticized as an overreach of presidential power by critics in Congress, including Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., whose new measure would curb the president's assumed authority to block the enforcement of immigration laws.

"This thinly veiled political ploy is detrimental to Americans, and while President Obama asks the Department of Homeland Security to 'look the other way' on immigration policy, I ask him to respect the rule of law," Schweikert said in a statement.

On Sunday top Obama political adviser David Plouffe said the administration undertook a review of immigration laws and determined that Obama was acting within his authority as president to make the policy change.

In addition to Schweikert's measure, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said he will sue the administration to prevent the policy from being implemented.

"President Obama's actions will violate the constitutional separation of powers and at least two federal laws," King said in a statement. "This is no longer a debate about immigration policy. The debate is now about the constitution and the rule of law."

While Republicans control the House, it isn't at all clear whether most would support Schweikert's measure, but even if it passes there it likely would not pass the Democrat-controlled Senate or be signed by Obama.