White House Delays Executive Actions on Immigration

Hello everyone, happy weekend!

I wanted to get this up before the headline disappeared, but the White House announced this morning that it will be delaying executive action on immigration. This announcement came despite a previous one made this summer in the White House Rose Garden that the president will act immediately after Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, finished his review and presented recommendations to the president.

The article goes on to note that the reversal came likely due to mounting pressure from Senate Democrats, who are worried about the potential political ramifications that would come from executive actions during an election year. (POLITICO has reported that pressure from Senate Democrats have been ratcheting up for a bit now) It's interesting to note that while the response from the GOP is predictable, the harshest criticism comes from immigration reform groups, players that have typically supported the president and the Democrats.

Also, it'll be interesting to learn more throughout the class what exactly "executive actions" are! I found a nice basic primer for what executive "tools" the POTUS can use, written by Cass Sunstein, the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)