Earnest on Immigration Delay: ‘Political Environment Would Be Really Bad for the Issue’

‘By injecting an executive action in the midst of this hyperpartisan, hyperpolitical environment shortly before the midterms, that will have a negative impact’

Earnest on Immigration Delay: "Injecting This Issue Into Current Political Environment Would Be Really Bad For The Issue" (RealClearPolitics)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE: What the president wants to do is ensure all the work that's been done over the last several years to build this powerful bipartisan coalition in support of immigration reform is sustained. And by injecting an executive action in the midst of this hyperpartisan, hyperpolitical environment shortly before the midterms, that will have a negative impact on the broader public support and on the sustainability of immigration reform...

It's not a surprise to anybody at the White House, it's certainly isn't a surprise to me, I won't speak for my colleagues. It's not a surprise to me there were some people in the newspaper over the weekend who were critical of the president's decision to -- to announce these executive actions before the end of the year as opposed to before the end of the summer. That criticism was not a surprise. That criticism was anticipated. But the president is willing to take on that criticism so that we can ensure that the executive action that the president takes is sustained, that it's enduring and we continue to have public support for it. 

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