Mary Ann Reynolds: If Congress would act, president wouldn’t have to

Re “Obama makes right move on immigration” (Perspective, Nov. 17): Thank you for the article referring to the House of Representatives’ inaction on immigration reform. I fully support what President Obama said on his visit to Myanmar last week. If Congress won’t move on immigration reform, he will issue an executive order that will. John Boehner’s contentious response to fight the president “tooth and nail” holds out no hope for a meaningful compromise.

After all, this would not be the first time a president has used his executive authority to address immigration issues. In fact, President Ronald Reagan signed into law an immigration bill, passed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, legalizing 3 million immigrants and then issued an executive order to stop deportations that would interfere with the reunification of families. President George H.W. Bush later used his executive powers to halt the deportations of up to 1.5 million family members.

Congress has been able to work together in the past on immigration issues. It’s time John Boehner pushes hard to get the House of Representatives to put together an immigration bill that the Senate could support and the President would sign. Then an executive order would not be necessary.

This story was originally published November 20, 2014 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Mary Ann Reynolds: If Congress would act, president wouldn’t have to."