WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has been teasing for some time now that the president will take executive action to reform immigration policy absent actual legislation from Congress. Just when he will act and how far he will go are the questions at this point.
Recently, the White House has hinted that the big push might come after the midterm elections, a delay encouraged in part by nervous Democratic senators. But intense speculation remains about the policy's scope.
In the latest episode of Drinking & Talking, The Huffington Post boozed up our panelists (well, not all of them) and asked for predictions. Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of the pro-reform group America's Voice, Doug Heye, communications director for former Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Esther Lee, immigration reporter for ThinkProgress, and HuffPost's Elise Foley explored the possibilities for executive action and predicted the political ripple effect.
The discussion took place last month, so it's a touch dated. But the consensus was there at the time: Obama would go big.
"I think it's going to be 5 to 6 million [people affected by deferred detention]," said Sharry. "And Obama is going to, he's going to go for it. He's going to go for it. And he's going to be rolling a hand grenade in the middle of American politics that is going to explode."
"I think he is playing to history more than the immediate politics," he added.
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