WHAT DID I SAY AGAIN?

Yes, he said it. Clearly.

“…for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.”

“I’m not the emperor… My job is to execute laws that are passed.”

“My job in the executive branch is supposed to be to carry out the laws that are passed.”

“I would be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally…there is a path to get this done and that is through Congress.”

He was unambiguous.

With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed — and I know that everybody here at Bell is studying hard so you know that we’ve got three branches of government. Congress passes the law. The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws. There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.

Barak Obama, March 28, 2011, in a Univision Town Hall months before taking action to keep “The Dreamers” (those who came illegally to the U.S. as children) from being deported, saying the nation’s laws would not allow him to do that. (Video below.)

Well, look Jackie, this is something I’ve struggled with throughout my presidency. The problem is that you know I’m the President of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed, and Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system. And what that means is that we have certain obligations to enforce the laws that are in place, even if we think that in many cases the results may be tragic.

Barak Obama, February 2013, in a Google Hangout in response to an activist asking whether he could do more to keep families from being “broken apart” while Congress remained gridlocked on immigration legislation. (Video below.)

Here’s the problem that I have, Jose, and I have said this consistently. My job in the executive branch is supposed to be to carry out the laws that are passed. Congress has said, here’s the law when it comes to those who are undocumented, and they allocate a whole bunch of money for enforcement. And what I have been able to do is make a legal argument that I think is absolutely right, which is that given the resources we have, we can’t do everything that Congress has asked us to do, what we can do is then carve out the DREAM Act folks…. But if we start broadening that, then essentially, I would be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally. So that’s not an option. And I do get a little worried that advocates of immigration reform start losing heart and immediately thinking, well, somehow there’s an out here—if Congress doesn’t act, we will just have the President sign something and that will take care of it, and we won’t have to worry about it. What I have said is that there is a path to get this done and that is through Congress.”

Barak Obama, September 17, 2013, in a Telemundo interview explaining that he could not apply that same action to shield other groups of people from deportation as he did for the “Dreamers”. (Video below.)

The easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws.

Barak Obama, November 2013, in an immigration speech in San Francisco, in response to several protesters repeatedly yelling “Stop deportations! Stop deportations!” Mr. Obama confirmed that only Congress had the authority to do what they wanted.

Now President Obama seems to be on the verge of shielding millions of illegal aliens from deportation through imperial action and providing many of them work permits. He has his White House officials now claiming that such actions are “legally unassailable.” Here are the Remarks by the President at Univision Town Hall, March 28, 2011. The President also had it published as an official statement from the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/28/remarks-president-univision-town-hall. Here he is at the Google hangout, February 14, 2013: Here his is in the Telemundo interview: Make sure your friends know the facts. Send them his statements. Send them the videos.
Read more: The Washington Post has actually transcribed the interviewers’ questions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/11/18/obamas-flip-flop-on-using-executive-action-on-illegal-immigration/