Rep. Johnson’s statement on President Obama’s executive action on immigration

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As President Barack Obama prepares to announce an executive action that takes steps toward fixing our broken immigration system, Rep. Johnson released the following statement:

“Just as past presidents have used executive orders to move society forward, President Obama is using his authority to boldly push the nation ahead on immigration reform,” said Johnson.
 
“President Abraham Lincoln – exercising his constitutional authority – issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. President Truman used an executive order to integrate the armed forces in 1948. President Eisenhower used an executive order to desegregate schools in 1957. In the 1960s, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson used them ban racial discrimination in federal housing, hiring, and contracting.

President Obama is making his historic contribution to advance our nation by protecting dreamers and undocumented parents and families of U.S. citizens from deportation as well as making more visas available for highly-skilled workers. His order will also secure our borders. I support the President’s use of executive action, and I stand together with the millions of undocumented individuals and their families who have been held hostage for years by conservative leadership that refuses to give them the opportunity to legally become part of our country.”

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