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McKinley calls immigration action a “diversion”

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A U.S. House of Representatives member from West Virginia calls President Barack Obama’s decision to use his executive authority to change the U.S. immigration system a “diversion.”

“This was purely politics,” 1st District Congressman David McKinley (R-W.Va.) said. “This was a diversion to change the narrative in Washington and around this country.” He predicted the move would “poison the well” for work with the new Congress which takes over in January.

“A lot of these individuals that ran for Congress want to deal with immigration, but they’re not going to see it because he’s (President Obama) going to do it by executive order before they get a chance to do it. That’s not the way the Constitutional was written for this,” said McKinley.

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” President Obama defended his executive action and challenged U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) to “pass a bill” if he and other Republicans were unhappy with the steps.

“Congress has a responsibility to deal with these issues and there are some things that I can’t do on my own,” the President said. “What I do have is the legal authority to try to make the system better.”

With the executive action, temporary legal status — largely in three year increments — will be extended to as many as five million people undocumented immigrants.

The extensions would include undocumented parents and families of U.S. citizens who have been in the United States more than five years without a criminal record; 300,000 so-called “Dreamers” who came to the U.S. illegally as children with current age limits dropped; and 400,000 highly-skilled workers who will be eligible for visas.

On Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline,” McKinley predicted the issue would eventually move from the legislative branch to the judicial branch.

“What he’s trying to do is goad us into a fight and I think this now is going to be decided by the courts, just like the issue on the lawsuit against the President over health care,” McKinley said.





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