Reid warning: Obama will take action on immigration if House does not

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid warned Tuesday if House Republicans don’t vote on comprehensive immigration reform by Aug. 1, President Barack Obama will take administrative action on the matter.

Reid, D-Nev., wasn’t specific, but the Obama administration is reviewing its deportation policies and could halt or slow sending illegal immigrants out of the country, for example.

Reid said he believes House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is afraid to bring immigration up for a vote because of objections from “the loud, shrill” conservative Tea Party members of his GOP caucus.

“I believe a majority of Republicans would vote for it in the House” if Boehner brought it to the floor, Reid said.

Reid said Democrats and the president have set a deadline for action this summer.

“If the Republicans don’t do something by August first, the president is going to have to do something administratively,” said Reid, who noted Obama had acted on his own before when he couldn’t get cooperation from Congress.

Obama has asked his Homeland Security chief to hold off on publicly releasing his review of U.S. deportation policies until the end of the summer to give Congress time to act on immigration, according to an Associated Press report Tuesday from Washington.

The U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill a year ago. GOP House members who favor reform, including Reps. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei of Nevada, haven’t embraced a House version of the Senate bill but instead have suggested supporting a package of separate bills dealing with different aspects of immigration.

Reid’s comments came during a news conference in Las Vegas with members of several Southern Nevada chambers of commerce.

The senator and business leaders argued that bringing 11 million undocumented immigrants “out of the shadows” and passing immigration reform would create jobs and help Nevada’s economic recovery.

Immigrants would have to pay back taxes and penalties and go to the back of the line if they want to become U.S. citizens.

The Senate bill also would expand visa programs which could increase tourism in Nevada and across the nation. Businesses also would be allowed more guest visa workers, for high-tech employees as well as farmworkers.

Reid said the immigration law also does more to secure America’s borders, which is a top GOP priority.

The Senate majority leader noted that polls show about 70 percent of Americans are now in favor of immigration reform.

“We just need to have a vote in the House,” Reid said. “The speaker has said a number of different things, but never we’re going to have a vote.”

Reid was joined at the news conference by officials with the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Latin Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Chamber of Commerce and the Asian Chamber of Commerce. Also participating were Rosemary Vassiliadis, the director of aviation at McCarran International Airport, and Karlos LaSane, regional vice president of government relations at Caesars Entertainment.

Otto Merida, president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, said he believes many Republicans fear immigration reform because they think immigrants will register as Democrats once they gain citizenship.

Merida, a Republican, said that’s a false assumption especially when it comes to older business women and men like himself.

“I hope it happens but I’m pessimistic,” Merida said of immigration reform. “I’m going to be making calls to my friends, the Republicans. To assume everybody is going to be a Democrat is not a fact.”

Merida said he sees a window of opportunity to pass immigration reform before the issue gets caught up in presidential election politics in 2016.

“If we don’t do it now, when?” Merida asked.

The Obama administration also is coming under pressure from his supporters to do something about deportations, with more than 2 million illegal immigrants returned to their home countries since he became president. In many cases, families are being separated, including when the person deported doesn’t have a criminal record.

“This is something that is immoral,” Merida said. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

LaSane of Caesars said the current red-tape heavy immigration system is outdated.

“It’s time to fix the system that’s simply archaic,” LaSane said.

Reid said he agreed to have any new immigration law take effect in January 2017 after the next president is elected since Republicans don’t seem to trust Obama. He said it’s not his preference but he’s willing to deal with the GOP to get something OK’d.

It’s in Republicans’ interest too, Reid said, noting the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, has predicted the GOP won’t be able to win the presidency again until immigration reform is passed. The Latino vote was key to Obama’s victories. Republicans need to gain a larger share of the Hispanic vote to win the White House.

“The American people need to know we can get something done,” Reid said, making a plea for action.

The Senate immigration bill has many business-friendly parts, including the Travel Promotion Act that could boost international tourism, Reid said. The bill would increase the number of Customs and Border Patrol agents who process international visitors as well, he said.

About 20 percent of the 40 million tourists who visit Las Vegas each year are international. Now tourism accounts for about $45 billion of the Las Vegas economy and employs nearly 400,000 workers.

“It is critical to Las Vegas tourism,” Vassiliadis of McCarran said of immigration and visa reform. She said she realizes it’s a hot-button political issue, but for her, “I look at it as a business issue.”

“I believe comprehensive immigration reform says to our Latino visitors, ‘We welcome you,’” she said, adding that at the same time it sends a message to local Hispanic workers, “We respect you.”

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.