Jeb Bush: Obama ‘overstepped’ with immigration actions

President Obama “overstepped” his legal authority on immigration, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Tuesday after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s executive action on deportations.

“Last year, the president overstepped his executive authority and, in turn, hurt the effort toward a commonsense immigration solution,” Bush wrote in a message posted to Facebook. 

{mosads}”That’s not leadership. The millions of families affected across the country deserve better,” Bush added.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction late Monday against Obama’s orders, ruling that Texas and 25 other states would “suffer irreparable harm” from the November action to shield up to 5 million illegal immigrations from deportation while allowing them to apply for work visas. 

Hanen said that the constitutionality of Obama’s action must be decided before officials can move forward.

The White House maintains that Obama’s actions are “consistent” with law and the precedent set by other presidents who have “used their authority to set priorities in enforcing our immigration law,” according to press secretary Josh Earnest.

Bush, who is moving toward a run for the White House in 2016, has been criticized by conservatives for taking a more moderate stance on immigration reform. 

Earlier this month, Bush said during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club that the U.S. could reach high, sustained economic growth by in part “dramatically expanding immigrants that are coming to work” in the U.S. with a guest worker program.

On immigration, he also suggested “shifting this to an economic issue rather than a political issue” while adding that Obama has at time “gone beyond his constitutional powers.”

“That creates greater doubt as well,” Bush said. 

During that speech, Bush said that border security should be the Obama administration’s highest priority, a point he reinforced Tuesday.

“Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to work with Congress to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system,” he said.