President Barack Obama reaffirmed on Thursday that he’ll use his executive authority to “get a smarter immigration system in place” while reform is stalled in Congress.
“It continues to be my belief that if I can’t see congressional action that I need to do, at least, what I can in order to make the system work better,” Obama told reporters during a news conference.
“Have no doubt. In the absence of congressional action I’m going to do what I can to make sure the system works better,” he said.
The president didn’t spill any details on what he’ll do in his hotly anticipated executive action, poised to be announced by the end of summer. According to reports, he’s considering a variety of options with regard to deportations for low-priority immigrants as well as changes to the legal immigration system.
He said Congress’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform or a border supplemental means he’ll have to redirect resources from within the system to address the recent influx of unaccompanied children at the southwest border.
“That means we’ve got to make some administrative choices and some executive choices about, for example, getting more immigration judges down there,” he said.