President Barack Obama's legal justification for making changes to the immigration system through executive order is "flimsy" or "nonexistent," Republican strategist Karl Rove told Fox News' "Happening Now."
Obama announced the executive order on Nov. 19 that will make sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system, including temporary legal status to as many as five million illegal immigrants.
"[I]n my opinion and in the opinion of a lot of people I have talked to who are legal experts, the president's basis in law is flimsy, if not completely nonexistent.
"There is no authority, I believe, for a president to exempt an entire class of people from enforcement from the nation's immigration laws for a self-described period of time. There is no authority to do that. And, yet, that's exactly what he's done," Rove said Monday.
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A president's executive order had to have a "statutory basis," Rove explained, adding it had to involve "executing a law that has been passed by Congress that gives him definitional responsibilities."
Obama timed the announcement after the midterm elections for "political reasons," due to fear of criticism from Democrats and immigration proponents, Rove said.
"He was concerned about criticism from both flanks. You had vulnerable Democrats saying, 'If you do this before the election, it's going to look like a power grab, and I'm going to lose.'
"And, then you had concern inside the White House that the expectation was among Latino immigration advocates that it was going to be a much bigger package than it ultimately turned out to be," he said.
The response has been varied among Republicans as they planned how to counter the measures Obama approved. Rove, who served as deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, suggested the incoming GOP-controlled Congress could take a "two-track approach" to funding government operations.
"Fund most, if not all, of the government through the end of the fiscal year, except the Department of Homeland Security, or parts of it. And, fund only those for a couple of months, so that there can be a fuller discussion of this next year," he said.
When Obama made the announcement, Rove said his "language" was "extraordinary" in its attempt to "goad the Republicans by raising the specter of a government shutdown over this.
"I don't think they're going to take the bait, but it does show that this is colored very heavily by politics and political considerations from the Oval Office," he said.