President Barack Obama's threat to move forward on immigration through executive action gives Republicans an incentive to move on the issue if they want to position themselves to win the presidential election in 2016, talk show host Joe Scarborough said Monday.
"If he moves forward and does it, then the Republicans are forced to act. And, they have the political incentive to do it," Scarborough, a former Florida Republican congressman, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Though Obama had six years of his presidency to promote changes to immigration laws, Scarborough said the president had now "found religion" and was going to "move forward and do it." He maintained that would require Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is expected to be Senate Majority Leader, to persuade conservative Republicans to approve changes to immigration ahead of the next election.
"Now, you're going to have Mitch McConnell and John Boehner look at people that really want to get in the way and say, 'Really? Do you want (former Sec. of State) Hillary Clinton to be president for eight years? We can stop short of amnesty. We can stop short of citizenship. But, we have to do something,' " Scarborough said.
It would be a "pretty good strategic move on the president's part" to sign an executive order that makes changes to the immigration system, Scarborough said, because it essentially makes his action law.
He said the immigration issue was really an "intramural battle" that was pitting conservative Republicans against moderate Republicans, adding that hesitation would not work in their favor.
"If the president signs an executive order, them not acting, them blocking an immigration bill, actually allows the president of the United States to have his executive order be the law of the land, right? So, them dragging their feet actually works against them, and allows the president to have his way."
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