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Last updated on Thursday, November 20, 2014
(WASHINGTON) - Even before President Barack Obama takes executive action on immigration on Friday, the outcry from Republican critics is intense.
WASHINGTON - Even before President Barack Obama takes executive action on immigration on Friday, the outcry from Republican critics is intense.
Indiana Sen. Dan Coats is among those GOP lawmakers who argue that the president is acting outside the bounds of the Constitution and should be challenged.
Coats is the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee's homeland security subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over immigration issues.
"President Obama's role is to faithfully execute the law, not alter or ignore it as he sees fit," Coats said in a statement Wednesday. "If the president changes existing immigration law via executive order, he will exceed his Constitutional authority and ignore the wishes of the American people."
"Taking this action would be a disservice to everyone who followed the law to legally immigrate to the United States," the Hoosier senator added. "I am working with my colleagues to explore all options - legislative and legal - to stop the president's blatant disregard for our nation's system of checks and balances."
Coats was among the GOP senators who voted against a bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the Senate on a 68-32 vote in June 2013. Fourteen Republicans joined with Democrats in passing the bill, which was never taken up in the GOP-run House.
Coats said at the time that the immigration measure was "repeating the mistakes and broken promises of the 1986 immigration reform bill, rather than learning from them."
"We need to ensure that we are achieving real progress on securing our borders before beginning the process of granting legal status to illegal immigrants," the senator said.
Obama is scheduled to address the nation tonight at 8 p.m. to discuss the steps he is taking to prevent the deportation of undocumented immigrants.
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