Obama: Immigration fight can't be "dealbreaker"

In the face of fierce Republican blowback, President Obama continued defending his recent executive action on immigration in his weekly address Saturday, warning Republicans not to paralyze the government simply because they object to one part of his agenda.

"We can't allow a disagreement over a single issue to be a dealbreaker on every issue," Mr. Obama said in the address, which was taped Friday during the president's trip to Las Vegas. "That's not how our democracy works. This debate deserves more than politics as usual."

Conservatives have accused the president of grossly overstepping the bounds of his authority with the action, which will shield roughly 5 million undocumented immigrants living in the country from the threat of deportation and authorize them to live and work legally in the United States for at least three years. Some Republican lawmakers have pushed their leaders to strip funding for new green cards and visas in a spending bill that must pass Congress by mid-December to prevent a government shutdown.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, have lodged stiff objections to Mr. Obama's policy changes, vowing a swift response when the new Congress convenes in January, but they've not yet indicated what actions they will take.

Of course, goading Congress into action on immigration is exactly what the president hoped to accomplish by acting unilaterally.

"As you might have heard, there are members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better," he said in his address. "Well, I have one answer for that: Pass a bill. The day I sign it into law, the actions I've taken to help solve this problem will no longer be necessary."

While it's a likely bet Congress won't react to the president's action by passing comprehensive legislation, as he would like, GOP leaders are mulling a variety of responses, including taking legal action against the president on the issue and stalling confirmation of all non-essential nominees when Republicans assume the Senate majority in January.

The president announced his executive actions Thursday night during a primetime speech, and he traveled to a Las Vegas high school Friday to promote the changes.

On Saturday, he again outlined exactly what his action will - and will not - accomplish. The action would devote more resources to border security, he said, and prioritize enforcement resources to focus on "felons, not families; criminals, not children." He also said the action would bring undocumented immigrants "out of the shadows, so they can play by the rules, pay their full share of taxes, pass a criminal background check and get right with the law."

What his actions will not do, the president said, is "grant citizenship, or the right to stay here permanently or offer the same benefits that citizens receive." The deportation relief would only be available to immigrants who have lived in the country for at least five years, not those who have come more recently, he emphasized.

"And it's certainly not amnesty, no matter how often the critics say it," he added. "Amnesty is the immigration system we have today -- millions of people living here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules. And the actions I took this week will finally start fixing that."