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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Obama Pushes Immigration Plan in Vegas

Aired November 21, 2014 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: You've been listening to President Obama laying his cards on the table for his go-it-alone immigration plan.

Let's welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

President Obama just finished telling the crowd at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, he did what Congress would not -- shielding up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is in the room where the president just spoke.

Suzanne, what was the reaction like in the room? It sounded like there was some heckling of some sort.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let me explain that to you, because obviously it's a very controversial executive order. For a lot of the folks in this room, they are very friendly to this president. They came out in 2008. They came out last year, as well, to hear his immigration policy. They're very excited and happy, at least the young folks, (INAUDIBLE) I talk to, that their parents possibly will have an opportunity not to be deported for at least three years.

But what you heard from a young man in the audience who was shouting at the president, it was a back and forth that lasted for a couple of minutes, he was not satisfied with what the president has done. There are some people in the room who did not think that the president went far enough. It doesn't apply to a lot of frustrated young students who want to see a very clear path to citizenship. That's one group that's frustrated.

Other people are thinking this is way too late, too little too late. They have been asking for this president to act for some time, for years now, and he is just getting around to what they believe could have happened years ago.

It also doesn't allow, Jake, those who have lost their parents, who have been deported who are in Mexico right now -- I talked to a young man outside who was in line who had attended the president's speech just last year and he gave me such an emotional story about his own family, his mother who is an undocumented worker in this country, eight months pregnant, and he is so happy, he's thrilled that at least she is protected by this executive order. But then he told me the flip side of it is, it was just last week that his father was deported after going to the Walmart to pick up some things for his younger brother and got stopped by the police.

So, you can understand there is a sense of exhilaration, but also anxiety and frustration from the people inside of this room. Some of the president's greatest supporters, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, with President Obama in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Republicans, of course, have already let loose a hail storm of criticism over the president's announcement.

CNN chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash joins us.

Dana, now that Republicans have had about 20 hours to think on the president's speech, to go over what he's actually proposing, what are they saying about what they are going to do, a lot of them about if not all want to stop him in some way.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They do. And there is no shortage of comments about the way that he did this being imperialistic, about being like an emperor. But they don't know the answer to that question, they don't know how they're going to do it. And reason is because, there are no good ways to deal with what the president has done.

The best tool, the sharpest tool in Congress' shed is the you power of the purse, but: A, they don't want to shut down the government, I think across the board; B, it doesn't necessarily mean that it would stop what the president is doing, because immigration policy at this time is mostly paid for by customs fee. So, Congress doesn't even pay for that.

It seems if the idea that has the most support is taking the president to court, and they think that they have had success in the past on other issues with the court. So, that's probably going to be the best venue. But the idea of the Republican leadership trying to sort of beat back conservatives who really are kind of foaming at the mouth wanting to be aggressive and be as aggressive as soon as possible, that's going to be the challenge for Republican leaders right now, because there is no immediate way to deal with this.

TAPPER: All right. Dana Bash, thank you so much.

I want to go right to CNN political commentators Ana Navarro and Stephanie Cutter, also Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor for "The National Review."

Thank you so much, one and all, for being here.

Ana, do you think that this provision, what President Obama says he is doing, will get these people, these specific -- I guess it's about 5 million undocumented immigrants who are parents of legal residents or citizens, will it get them out of the shadows? Or are a lot of them going to remain there? ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think a lot of will come

out of the shadows. I suspect the majority will come out of the shadows, because even though this is not a permanent solution, even though this is not a path to legalization in any way, it is a huge protection. And they know that not coming out of the shadows means that at any moment, they could be subject to deportation and at that moment, it's too late to apply.

So, this is the chance. And I think a lot of them will do so.

You know, there's -- and I -- it's been interesting to me, Dana, that Republicans have complained bitterly about the way this was done. But I've heard very little about the merits and the substance of the executive order. I haven't heard people -- because there are a lot of other things in this executive order beyond the 5 million, you know, protected from deportation. I haven't heard as much criticism by far about what's in the order, as much as about how it was done, and that it exceeds his authority.

TAPPER: Ramesh, I want to ask you -- a lot of the presidential hopefuls for 2016 are condemning this, all of them condemning are it, as Ana says, for the executive overreach in the their view. Some are condemning the specifics. But that's a minority compared to the executive overreach.

Do you think any of the Republican hopefuls will actually say when I'm a president, I will undo what President Obama did? In other words, it's very easy in Washington to give things. It's very difficult in this town to take them away from the American people or citizens in this country or residents of this country.

RAMESH PONNURU, SENIOR EDITOR, NATIONAL REVIEW: I suspect you will see Republican presidential candidates saying they are not going to renew the status without congressional authorization. You're right that the biggest line of criticism has been about the way this was done. And most conservatives think that's more objectionable than the actual substance of it.

TAPPER: And, Stephanie, this is a political risk for President Obama because although it is certainly something that a lot of Latino voters seem to like and that's an important constituency, it does risk alienating those white middle class voters that President Obama and Democrats have struggled to get to vote for them in some states in the past.

STEPHANIE CUTTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that there is political risk on both sides, on how both sides are handling this issue. But if you -- even just look at the latest exit polls from the election just a couple weeks ago, 57 percent of the American people said that they wanted a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

TAPPER: Right, although they oppose the president doing this way.

CUTTER: But they also -- when you ask them, should the president do it in this way if Congress refuses to act, the numbers go way up. So, I think the bottom line is that the American people want action.

They want somebody to solve the problem. And this is the first step towards doing that.

TAPPER: All right. President Obama out there trying to make the case for something that right now the American people object in terms of the way he did it, not the specifics of what he did.

Ana Navarro, Ramesh Ponnuru, Stephanie Cutter, thank you so much.

Republicans are not wasting anytime hammering the president's immigration plan. Some even threatening lawsuits, censure, impeachment.

My next guest, former Senator Rick Santorum, says the plan is a slap in the face to the democratic process. What would he do differently? We'll talk to him next.

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