Both leaders believe deportations are breaking up families, that a review will bear fruit, and that the House GOP needs to vote. But they continue to call for the use of prosecutorial discretion by the administration.
BuzzFeed (March 23, 2014)
After a recent Friday meeting with President Obama on efforts to slow or suspend deportations, activists
leaving the White House could agree on one thing: The president had been furious.”He was pretty angry for Obama – he doesn’t show it, but you could feel it,” one activist said.
The president, activists said, was frustrated by the attacks on his deportation record. In recent months, the issue has swept to the front of the immigration policy debate, first among activists, then bubbling over onto Capitol Hill.
Two weeks ago, under pressure from activists, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was ready to vote on a resolution that threatened to expose a rift within the Democratic Party on deportations for the world to see.
Then the White House intervened. A calm and measured Obama also met with lawmakers from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last week, seeking to make an emotional connection on the contentious issue. The president subsequently announced an administration review of deportation policy to be led by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
“The president was pretty emphatic; he said, ‘You can tell folks publicly that I said I recognize we should not be in the business of separating families, no one agrees with that,'” Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) told BuzzFeed.
For the c0mplete story follow this link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/xavier-becerra-and-luis-gutierrez-hopeful-after-pressure-on
The House Democratic Caucus chairman described the legal constraints on the administration – if House Republicans won’t agree to allow votes on the deportation issue.
“What he’s trying to do is work within the confines of the law and make enforcement actions work,” Becerra said of the president. “He pointed out – and it’s hard to deny – that if Congress provides through law and budget the authority to do something, the president can’t say I’m not going to do it.”
