Obama to Veto Bill Restricting Executive Action on Immigration: White House

WASHINGTON, December 5 (Sputnik) – US President Barack Obama will veto legislation from the House of Representatives, aimed at restricting the president's executive power to implement immigration reforms, the White House has announced.

"If the President were presented with H.R. 5759 [Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act of 2014], his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill," the White House said in a Thursday press release, also indicating that the resolution "seeks to restrict the President's immigration accountability actions".

The act, introduced by US Congressman Ted Yoho on Wednesday with strong Republican support, passed the House of Representatives, but still needs to pass the Democratically-controlled Senate before it would make it to Obama's desk for a veto.

According to the White House, the bill would prevent the president from stopping the deportation of some undocumented immigrant workers from the United States.

Several US states are now suing Obama for his executive action on immigration, which, according to the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorny General Greg Abbott, is a violation of the US constitutional limits on the president's power and would end up causing individual states to spend more money on law enforcement, healthcare, and education.

Obama's executive action, announced on November 20, aims to prevent up to five million illegal immigrants, who have lived in the country for more than five years, from being deported from the United States.

Members of the US Republican party are sharp critics of the executive action and have questioned Obama's authority to take unilateral steps to solve the immigration problem in the country.