Obama to announce immigration plans in Thursday primetime address
LatestPresident Obama will announce a plan on Thursday evening to use his executive powers to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
The announcement will come in a speech at 8 p.m. Eastern time and will last 10 minutes, a White House source told Univision News. The address will air on Univision, the nation’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster and a parent company of Fusion.
On Wednesday, immigrant-rights advocates prepared plans to bolster the president’s announcement.
“We hear there will be a prime time Thursday evening announcement (to preview) and full unveiling in Vegas on Friday,” activist Dawn Le wrote in an email to other advocacy groups, which was mistakenly forwarded to reporters by the AFL-CIO. “Can folks begin to work and plan watch parties for Thursday and/or Friday? Unclear whether Thursday night content will be what is “celebratory”, but Friday will be where we need a lot of energy guaranteed. Need to get a FULL list of locations, key spokespeople you want to lift up (please specify English/Spanish capacity) ASAP.”
The president will travel to Las Vegas on Friday, according to media reports, where he is expected to speak further about his plan.
The president’s actions on immigration has been expected for months. It could provide deportation relief and work permits to millions of undocumented immigrants who have children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, among other groups.
Republicans in Congress have pledged to fight Obama’s actions, arguing they are an abuse of executive power.
“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,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
@JaredGoyette is a digital news editor at Fusion.
Jordan Fabian is Fusion’s politics editor, writing about campaigns, Congress, immigration, and more. When he’s not working, you can find him at the ice rink or at home with his wife, Melissa.