House Judiciary Wants Sneak Peek at Obama's Immigration Actions

The Hill

By Justin Sink

September 22, 2014

House Judiciary wants sneak peek at Obama's immigration actions 

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are demanding the White House detail the executive actions on immigration President Obama is considering implementing later this year.

The president had tasked top administration officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, with developing a series of executive actions for his review by the end of the summer.

But the White House ultimately decided to punt any moves until after the midterm elections, arguing it would help preserve political support for a comprehensive deal.

House Republicans, however, are now asking in a letter for the White House to publicly release the list of executive actions the president is currently considering ahead of any decision.

"The least the Administration can do is give Americans the opportunity to see the recommendations that you are considering before you take any actions," the letter, led by Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), read. "Rather than attempt to hide these actions from the American people until after the midterm elections, Americans should be given the chance to come to their own conclusions as to the merits of these recommendations."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although is unlikely to offer any insight into which options the president is currently weighing.

After announcing the delay earlier this month, press secretary Josh Earnest accused Republicans of looking to "distort the facts" about the president's immigration policies for electoral gain.

Earnest said that by waiting until after the electoral season, the administration could "preserve the strong public support that currently exists for immigration reform."

"Injecting it into the highly charged political debate six or eight weeks before the midterm elections is to subject this issue to gross distortion and partisanship that could alter that balance, and we don't want to do that," Earnest said.

Earnest said on Sept. 12 that there was "still a little work to be done" on evaluating the executive actions.

"A lot of the decisions have been made," he said. "There are still some additional decisions that need to be finalized, but what that indicates is that while there is a little bit more work to be done, most of the work has been completed and we are positioned to make an announcement about these decisions before the end of the year."

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