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Senator: Obama’s Immigration Action Could Make Ferguson Violence ‘Worse’

CREDIT: AP
CREDIT: AP

During an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Thursday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) reiterated his concern about violence and unrest breaking out in the wake of President Obama’s executive action to grant deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants, suggesting that Obama’s move could worsen the ongoing tensions in Ferguson, Missouri.

Police have recently arrested protesters in Ferguson and Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO) has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of a grand jury decision about whether to charge a white police officer for fatally shooting unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

“The president ought to walk into this a lot more slowly, especially after an election,” Coburn explained. “This idea, the rule of law is really concerning a lot of people where I come from and whether it’s factual or perceptual, it really doesn’t matter and the glue that holds our country together is really this common belief in the rule of law and when we see the things going on in Ferguson and the worries there about whether or not it’s equally applied, we shouldn’t be doing anything right now to shake that worse.”

Obama is expected to reveal the details of his unilateral action later this afternoon. Republicans have accused him of acting like an “emperor of the United States” and are discussing options to defund the agencies responsible for implementing the directive.

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Presidents from both parties have used executive action at least 39 times in the last 60 years, including President Ronald Reagan’s actions to protect children of people who legalized under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 and President George H.W. Bush’s decision to defer the deportations of up to 1.5 million spouses and children of people who legalized under IRCA.

In 2007, President George W. Bush also took unilateral action on immigration after the Congress rejected his comprehensive immigration proposal. “Although the Congress has not addressed our broken immigration system by passing comprehensive reform legislation, my administration will continue to take every possible step to build upon the progress already made,” Bush said.