House Speaker John Boehner: "He's Not King"

In a controversial move that has brought howls of outrage from the Republicans, President Obama revealed details of his sweeping immigration reform during a televised speech to the nation earlier tonight.

President Obama had grown frustrated with Congress' inability to pass an immigration reform bill and instead elected to take executive action. Republicans charged that President Obama has overstepped his constitutional power - House Speaker John Boehner stated that Obama is not a "king" or "emperor" but is "sure acting like one".

The main point of Obama's immigration reform - approximately 4.4 million undocumented immigrants would be able to apply legally for jobs and "join American society", provided that they were parents of US citizens and legal permanent residents and had resided in the United States for at least the last five years. These 4.4 million people who qualify would be eligible to stay in the country for three years, though they wouldn't be able to vote or qualify for insurance under "Obamacare". Also, these people would have to pay back taxes and pass background checks.

In addition, some 270,000 people would be eligible to remain in the country under "the expansion of a 2012 move by Obama to stop deporting people brought illegally to the United States as children by their parents."

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President Obama also revealed that more law enforcement resources would be deployed to the country's borders and that deportation efforts would focus more on gang members and criminals and less on families.

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Here is some of what an angry John Boehner had to say after Obama's speech:

"By ignoring the will of the American people, President Obama has cemented his legacy of lawlessness and squandered what little credibility he had left. Republicans are left with the serious responsibility of upholding our oath of office."

Source: CNN.com - Obama: 'You can come out of the shadows'

Filed under: General Knowledge