Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) warned Monday that President Barack Obama would trigger a "constitutional crisis" if he used his executive authority to give millions of illegal immigrants legal status, a move Obama is reportedly considering before the end of the summer.
In a phone interview with TheBlaze, King predicted that while Obama's executive action would make things even worse for the millions of Americans still looking for work, it would also serve to wake people up.
President Barack Obama returns from his vacation this week. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Monday that if he follows through with his executive action on immigration, it could prompt a constitutional crisis. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
"If he does that, that triggers… the bomb of a constitutional crisis, and that is what will galvanize the American people," King said.
"I think at that point, the American people are going to realize that there isn't a way to control this president," he added.
Obama is reportedly considering a decision an action that would allow up to six million illegal immigrant adults to stay in the country, and possibly obtain work permits. That move would be a sort of expansion of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has provided legal status for hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants.
If Obama does something along those lines, King said his first action would be to call for a special session of Congress to deal with the crisis.
"I'm prepared, if that happens while I'm in Iowa, I intend to go directly to the airport, go right to Washington DC, beat the drum wherever I can, call as many of my colleagues together as I can," King said. "Hopefully [House Speaker] John Boehner will see that in the first minute also, and he'll be in Washington calling for a special session."
King said he isn't sure what Boehner would do, but said he's hopeful Boehner would move more quickly than he moved to confront Obama's unilateral interpretation of Obamacare. Republicans have argued for years that Obama is selectively interpreting that law to his own political advantage, but the House just weeks ago authorized a possible lawsuit against Obama on how the law is implemented.
"Let's just see if John Boehner's outrage can be instantaneously triggered as opposed to a slow approach to this thing," he said.
King was joined on the phone by conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, who will speak later this week at King's annual Defenders of Freedom fundraiser in Sious City, Iowa. Malkin praised King for his ongoing efforts to highlight the immigration crisis, and criticized Democrats for accusing King and those who agree with him for being racists.
"The canard that's always played, the tired card that's always played, is the race card," she said. "That somehow we're racists, we're hate-mongers, xenophobes."
"In my particular case, and of course, in the case of so many first- and second-generation legal immigrants and naturalized citizens, it's ridiculous to level that charge," she added.
Malkin agreed that many Americans seem apathetic to the idea that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans. But she said the mainstream press coverage of the crisis has caused much of this apathy.
"The reason why they're not connecting the dots is the incredible amount of white-washing and propaganda that goes on that's perpetuated by the supposedly objective media," she said. "We already know media is hostile to the rule of law and is openly open borders."
