GOP Warns 'Emperor Obama' of Immigration Fallout

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is flexing his executive powers Thursday, sidestepping Congress to take action on immigration.
    
Although it's a move that's likely to spare millions of illegal immigrants from the fear of deportation, it's not popular.
 
Areli Arteaga is a student at the University of Idaho. Her mother Maria picks potatoes and lives in the shadows. She is one of the people now called "undocumented workers."

"It makes us both very emotional," Arteaga told CBN News.
    
The Arteagas and other farm workers came to the White House to ask the president to include them in his executive order.

"They do hard, backbreaking work and they are deserving," Rep. Lois Gutierrez, D-Ill., said.
    
Congressman Gutierrez says Americans need to remember who harvested their meal when they sit down to feast with family next week.

"Let's make sure that this Thanksgiving, Mr. President, the blessings are bountiful for millions upon millions of undocumented workers in this country," the Illinois lawmaker admonished.
    
In a video posted on Facebook, the president announced that he'll soon unveil his immigration reform strategy.

"What I'm going to be laying out is the things that I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better even as I continue to work with Congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan, comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem," the president said.
    
Under his executive action, as many as 5 million immigrants living in the United States illegally will likely be protected from deportation and made eligible for work permits.
    
That number includes extending deportation protections to parents and spouses of citizens and permanent residents.
    
They would not, however, have a pathway to citizenship  and they wouldn't be entitled to get federal benefits.

White House officials say the president's plan is consistent with executive action taken by other presidents including President Ronald Reagan.

But Republicans on Capitol Hill say unilateral action on immigration by Obama could poison future opportunities for cooperation.

Critics also dispute the president's "lawful authority" claim, saying he's going beyond the powers the Constitution gives him.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took to social media, tweeting a list of 22 times the president, in his own words, said he couldn't act on his own on the immigration issue.
    
"If Emperor Obama ignores the American people and announces an amnesty plan that he himself has said over and over again exceeds his constitutional authority, he will cement his legacy of lawlessness and ruin the chances for congressional action on this issue and many others," the Ohio lawmaker charged.
         
Meanwhile, it appears the president's executive action is not a popular move with the public either.
   
An NBC-Washington Post poll shows 48 percent oppose the president taking executive action on immigration. Just 38 percent support it.
    
But support for a pathway to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally remains popular, with 57 percent favoring it. Only 40 percent oppose it.

It's an emotionally charged issue for sure.  In an interview with USA Today, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., predicted Americans would "go nuts" after the president's announcement.
    
"Because they're going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it's going to be a very serious situation," he said. "You could see instances of anarchy; you could see violence."
    
Regardless of how people feel, the president's move isn't permanent. In two years the next president can do away with it. Only congress can pass a law that offers true, lasting reform.