Ruppersberger Issues Statement on President Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration

(Washington, DC) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today issued the following statement on President Barack Obama’s Executive Action on immigration:

“Comprehensive immigration reform is the responsibility of Congress – not the President. The House has had opportunities to take up reasonable, bipartisan immigration legislation passed in the Senate, but leadership has refused to bring it to the floor for a vote. In the absence of action, the President has decided to use his executive authority under precedent set by every president of both parties since Eisenhower.

While I do not support everything in the President’s plan, I applaud efforts to strengthen border security, deport undocumented immigrants who commit crimes and require undocumented immigrants to pay their fair share of taxes. His proposal hires more border patrol agents, immigration judges and U.S. attorneys to speed up the deportation of people caught crossing the border illegally. It does not grant any illegal immigrant citizenship.

I do not support amnesty and the president does not have the authority to grant it. But with as many as 12 million illegal immigrants in our country, we cannot simply deport our way out of this problem. Congress must ultimately establish a rigorous path to citizenship that will help turn the illegal immigrants currently in our country into taxpayers who contribute to our economy rather than drain it.  Economists estimate the President’s plan will boost our gross domestic product by $90 billion to $210 billion in 2024. The economic benefits under the path established by the Senate bill are even greater.

Inaction is the equivalent to amnesty. I hope the President’s proposal incites Congress to come together on legislation to finish the job we were elected to do.”