White House on Executive Amnesty: Obama is Just Doing What Reagan and Bush Did

The Obama administration insists that there’s nothing to be concerned about with regard to the president’s upcoming announcement on executive amnesty. After all, they say, he’s following the lead of Republican presidents.

“The president does have significant authority and this is authority that’s invested in the executive branch of the United States,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart program. “This is the authority that previous presidents, both Democrats and Republicans have used. President George H.W. Bush used some of this authority to help some immigrants in this country who are not covered under existing immigration law … President Reagan did something similar.”

Unsurprisingly, Balart wasn’t interested in challenging Mr. Earnest on exactly what Bush and Reagan did. Obama’s expected announcement of amnesty for up to 5 million illegals is unprecedented in both its size and scope.