Gingrich: Obama setting ‘dangerous’ precedent

Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Sunday that President Obama lied to the people of the United States about his immigration executive orders.

{mosads}Gingrich joined other Republicans in criticizing the administration for what they see as an overreach of presidential authority.

“The president lied to the American people. What he is doing is not just prosecutorial discretion. He’s creating whole new program, setting up whole new bureaucracies, [and] is going to spend millions and millions of dollars without any authorization or appropriation,” Gingrich said on John Catsimatidis’s radio show.

Obama’s executive orders allow for an estimated 5 million undocumented workers to apply for deferred deportation. It also instructs authorities to only target deportation to undocumented workers with criminal records.

Gingrich said that Obama’s actions weren’t in line with the Constitution.

“That’s not how our Constitution works. Where Bill Clinton recognized that the Constitution required him to work with the Congress, Obama, in effect, is suspending the Constitution and defining the rules to fit his own personality,” said Gingrich, a former Republican Speaker.

“It’s very dangerous as a precedent. Who knows what some future president might do with that kind of attitude?” Gingrich asked.