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Congressman Veasey’s Statement on the President’s Pending Executive Action on Immigration

November 20, 2014

Washington, D.C.—America's diversity strengthens our country and makes it unique. Immigrants are hard workers and risk takers who come to the United States in search of the American Dream and to provide their children with better opportunities. That is why tonight, President Obama will announce an executive action that will bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.

It has been more than 500 days since the Senate kept their promise to the American people by passing a bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform bill and we cannot wait any longer for House Republicans to act. That is why the President is exercising action within the clear legal authority of his office and the well-established precedents of the past century. Every President since Eisenhower has used that authority to take action on immigration, including five Republican Presidents.

What executive action means for my home state of Texas is that it protects our immigrant families who have established deep ties to America so that they may live without the fear of separation, work legally and make bigger contributions to our economy.

But the President's executive action is only a temporary fix. The only permanent solution lies with Congress. In the House of Representatives we have the ability to create a bipartisan approach to fixing our immigration system, one that exemplifies the same spirit of cooperation, compromise, and statesmanship that we saw in the bipartisan bill passed in the Senate. That is why I ask my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to stop the gamesmanship and set aside the half measures.

The American people have spoken on immigration, and soon so will the President.

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Issues:Immigration