In 2013, President Obama said on multiple occasions—including during an interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos—that he doesn’t have the legal authority to suspend deportations of illegal immigrants because he isn’t the “king” or “emperor” of the United States.
But in the wake of his recent executive actions to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, Ramos confronted an increasingly irritated Obama on camera about his conflicting positions, in an interview that aired Tuesday night.
“What I’ve said very clearly and consistently is that we have to enforce our immigration laws but that we have prosecutorial discretion given the limited resources,” Obama said. “And we can’t deport 11 million people.”
Ramos pushed back, asking the president why, if he always had the legal authority to defer deportations, he allowed 2 million unlawful residents to be deported over the past six years?
Watch the clip to see Obama’s response.
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