WASHINGTON, November 17 (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama should use his executive authority to improve the country's immigration system, a group of six Senate Democrats said Monday.
"Enacting a comprehensive immigration bill is the only way to fix our [US] broken immigration system. Because House Republicans have not acted, we fully support [Obama's] decision to use your well-established executive authority to improve as much of the immigration system as you can," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and five other Democratic senators said in a written appeal to the US president.
The group expressed their frustration with the Republican party that has continuously refused to consider the bipartisan immigration bill that the Senate passed last June.
"Some Republicans are claiming that you do not have the authority to act, but we know that you, like previous presidents, have broad executive authority to shape enforcement and implementation of immigration laws," the senators wrote.
In the letter, the Democratic senators asked Obama to expand on the current program that grants deferred action on young immigrants to include parents of immigrant children, immigrant workers and those immigrants, who have not committed serious crimes.
Additionally, the senators urged US president to make immigration and border protection more "effective, humane and non-discriminatory".
The senators also outlined the economic benefits that immigration reform and deportation relief could hold.
"Deportation relief will help the economy, American workers, and employees by increasing revenues by billions of dollars," the senators wrote.
President Obama has promised to act on immigration reform by the end of 2014, but Republicans have said in response that they would go as far as impeaching the president if he uses his executive authority. Immigration reform is expected to involve temporary deportation relief to some of the estimated 11.3 million immigrants who live in America without documents.
