Until President Obama carries out his responsibility to enforce existing immigration laws, conservatives in the House have no reason to trust him with any changes, a top Heritage Foundation policy expert says in an on-camera interview with The Foundry about amnesty for illegal immigrants.

“The Constitution invests him with the authority to enforce the laws, and that is really where the immigration problem is breaking down right now. We need to see that the president is serious about enforcing the law before we can take any of these other measures,” Derrick Morgan, Heritage’s vice president for domestic and economic policy, says in the opening three minutes of the interview.

Obama has not been “a true partner” in the challenges of  securing the border, toughening workplace enforcement and improving the system of legal immigration, Morgan tells Genevieve Wood, senior contributor to The Foundry.

This initial excerpt previews how Wood presses Morgan with tough questions on Heritage’s immigration and border security proposals in other portions of the interview to be released later, said Rob Bluey, editor in chief of The Foundry.

This story was produced by The Foundry’s news team. Nothing here should be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation.