McCain, Flake: Obama immigration policies motivated by 2016

Arizona Sens. John McCain (R) and Jeff Flake (R) wrote in an op-ed published Sunday that President Obama’s executive orders on immigration were an attempt to help Democrats for 2016.

{mosads}McCain and Flake joined other Republicans in criticizing the administration for what they say is an abuse of presidential power.

They wrote in an op-ed published in The Arizona Republic that Obama was politically motivated.

“He is more interested in using the issue to the Democrats’ political advantage in 2016 than he is in reaching across the aisle to address this pressing national challenge once and for all,” the lawmakers wrote.

Obama announced sweeping executive orders last week that instruct authorities to only target their deportation efforts to undocumented workers with criminal backgrounds.

The policies also will impact 5 million undocumented workers and allow them to apply for delayed deportation status.

McCain and Flake wrote that the orders “not only lack legal justification but promise to set back important bipartisan efforts in Congress to reform our broken immigration system and secure our nation’s borders — key priorities for Arizona for which we have long fought.”

“Immigration is an issue that must be debated and decided by the representatives of the people, not by executive fiat. We had hoped that President Obama would, at the very least, give the new Congress a chance to engage on this issue next year before contemplating any action,” the lawmakers wrote.