In a sign of Democratic unity ahead of the 2016 elections, the party’s top presidential hopefuls quickly threw their support behind President Barack Obama’s sweeping executive actions on immigration and deportations.
Hillary Clinton, the clear frontrunner in early polling, tweeted her support just moments after her 2008 rival’s prime-time announcement on Thursday night. Within an hour, she released a statement offering a full-throated endorsement, casting the hot-button issue in the language of morality and family values.
“I support the President’s decision to begin fixing our broken immigration system and focus finite resources on deporting felons rather than families,” the former secretary of state, senator and first lady said. “We should never forget that we’re not discussing abstract statistics – we’re talking about real families with real experiences. We’re talking about parents lying awake at night afraid of a knock on the door that could tear their families apart, people who love this country, work hard, and want nothing more than a chance to contribute to the community and build better lives for themselves and their children.”
Echoing Obama, Clinton said the GOP’s “abdication of responsibility paved the way for this executive action” after the Republican-led House nixed the Senate-passed immigration bill. She added that “only Congress can finish the job by passing permanent bipartisan reform.”
Lame-duck Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said he’s “thrilled” by Obama’s move.
“Our diversity is our greatest strength. And the phrase on the seal of the United States—E Pluribus Unum—is not some bygone slogan from yesterday. It is the energy that fuels this great nation’s future,” he wrote in an email to supporters. “That’s why I’m thrilled by yesterday’s long-awaited victory for families across America — families that are American in every way except on paper. The President’s action also represents a victory for our country as a whole.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive who has said he’s considering running in the 2016 Democratic primary, also praised Obama’s move, and even criticized the news networks for refusing to carry his speech.
“I support President Obama’s action to help working families stay together,” he said. “I think everyone agrees that the current immigration system is broken. More than a year ago, I voted for an immigration reform bill that the Senate passed but House Republicans have refused to even consider. They have left the president with little choice but to act on his own.”
Vice President Joe Biden, also a rumored 2016 contender, has been talking up and selling Obama’s actions in recent months. He suggested that GOP would be doomed electorally if they don’t act “rationally” on immigration.
“Watch when this [midterm] election is over, watch what happens when all of a sudden out friends in the other team realize their prospects for future electoral success hinge upon acting rationally,” he said in September at a Hispanic Heritage Month. “They will either act rationally, or we will act for them, and if we have to act for them, they will not be around a whole lot longer to act in large numbers.”
Obama’s move is poised to shield between 4 and 5 million undocumented immigrants — including people brought to the U.S. as children and parents of American citizens or lawful permanent residents — from the threat of deportation and give them temporary work permits. It can be reversed by the next president, so it could be a major issue in the 2016 presidential race.
Meanwhile, Republicans have strongly objected to Obama’s immigration moves. Several governors and 2016 hopefuls — including Rick Perry of Texas, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana — have floated the idea of suing to block him. Two senators who also might run — Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas — have objected to Obama’s action as an egregious overreach of executive authority.
