Statement by Congressman Dan Kildee on President Obama’s Executive Actions on Immigration

“I’m pleased to see President Obama taking action to fix our broken immigration system. His executive actions fall well within the clear legal authority of his office and will help to secure our borders while also providing relief to millions of hard-working and law-abiding immigrant families across America. President Obama is not the first president to issue executive orders related to immigration. Indeed, other past presidents – including President Ronald Reagan and four other Republican presidents – have also used executive authority to act on immigration policy.

“While the President’s actions will make a broken immigration system work better, it will not fix the underlying problems that can only be solved by Congress passing comprehensive immigration reform. Everyone agrees that our immigration system is broken. Yet it’s been more than 500 days since the Senate passed bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform. I’ve co-sponsored legislation in the comprehensive immigration reform in the House, yet Speaker Boehner has repeatedly blocked efforts to bring this bipartisan bill up for a vote.

“We cannot continue to have a piecemeal immigration system – my constituents and the American people want action now.”