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 Recent statements from conservatives like Iowa Representative
Steve King and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that Obama should
be impeached are allowing Democrats to portray Republicans as
irrational, adding a toxic mix to the immigration debate in an
election year.
Obama is expected to issue a series of executive orders by the end
of summer on immigration that would bypass a gridlocked Congress,
which was unable to pass an immigration reform bill before it
recessed this week.
Pro-immigrant groups are urging him to suspend deportation
procedures for 5 million of the 11.7 million people who have entered
the country illegally, allowing them to get work permits, an outcome
Republicans call amnesty.
Beyond the immigration orders, Obama is struggling to get control
over a flood of child migrants from Central American countries who
have crossed the Texas border from Mexico.
 Whatever he decides, it will pitch Washington into a political
hurricane ahead of congressional elections in November in which
Republicans hope to oust Democrats from control of the Senate.
"If the president takes these actions, he'll be sealing the deal on
his legacy of lawlessness," said House of Representatives Speaker
John Boehner. "He'll be violating the solemn oath he made to the
American people on the day of his inauguration."
On Wednesday, Republican voted to file a lawsuit against Obama on
charges that he overstepped his authority in carrying out key parts
of his signature healthcare law.
The president, struggling to retain public confidence against a
tidal wave of domestic and foreign dilemmas, has mocked Republicans
for their lawsuit and says he is just doing his job in the face of
their obstructionism.
"Stop just hatin' all the time," he said of his opponents during a
speech in Kansas City on Wednesday.
Democrats, who have long tried to portray Republicans as extremist
and out of touch with everyday Americans, eagerly pointed out the
impeachment talk, with White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer
drawing headlines on July 25 by saying he would not discount the
possibility of impeachment.
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Impeachment is a constitutional option used sparingly by Congress
against a president. Republican Richard Nixon resigned under an
impeachment cloud during the Watergate scandal in 1974, and Democrat
Bill Clinton survived a messy, politically divisive impeachment
battle in 1998 over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Republican leaders are trying to tamp down the impeachment chatter,
which Democrats used to launch a fund-raising blitz.
"I know of no Republicans who are talking about impeachment," said
Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. "In my view, it’s all
Democrats trying to raise money, generally from their base, by this
fake threat that impeachment’s in the air."
Many Republicans see the need to pass an immigration bill to try to
mend fences with Latino voters who are angered by anti-immigrant
voices in the party.
The White House says Obama wants to go big: to do as much by
executive fiat as his constitutional authority allows to help many
of the millions of people who have entered the United States
illegally.
If Obama grants work permits to those millions, Republican leaders
say it will poison the well and end any chance of passing
comprehensive immigration legislation for the rest of Obama's
presidency.
"Tread lightly here, Mr. President," warned Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham.
(Additional reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Caren Bohan
and Douglas Royalty)
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