On Immigration, Hillary Clinton Takes Swing At GOP

In a rare public policy comment, Hillary Clinton weighed in last night on President Obama’s immigration executive action.

Just minutes after President Barack Obama completed his address to the nation Thursday night on immigration, Hillary Clinton commented via Twitter.

But shortly thereafter, the likely Democratic presidential candidate released a statement that was less “bipartisan.”

WATCH: President Obama’s Full Immigration Executive Order Speech

“I support the president’s decision to begin fixing our broken immigration system and focus finite resources on deporting felons rather than families,” the former secretary of state said, according to MSNBC. “I was hopeful that the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate in 2013 would spur the House of Representatives to act, but they refused even to advance an alternative. Their abdication of responsibility paved the way for this executive action.”

Clinton, like Obama, said Congress must “finish the job by passing permanent bipartisan reform.” That should both keep families together and protect the border, she added.

“We should never forget that we’re not discussing abstract statistics – we’re talking about real families with real experiences. We’re talking about parents lying awake at night afraid of a knock on the door that could tear their families apart,” Clinton said.

“Abdication of responsibility” is a strong, albeit fair, charge.

It’s likely Clinton, who said she would announce her presidential intentions at the beginning of 2015 – one way or the other – is testing the waters too.

She has rarely commented, or delayed commenting, on policy issues since stepping down after four years as Secretary of State.

 

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