President Obama will announce the details of his executive order on immigration during a prime-time address tonight. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill and Americans are already reacting to the president’s impending announcement.

>>> Obama to Explain How He Will Act on His Own to Change the Immigration System

Here’s a snapshot of what they’re saying:

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, used the words of Roman orator Cicero to address President Obama on the Senate floor Thursday.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Obama should wait to see how Congress acts when it convenes in January.

My question to the president is, Why couldn’t he wait and see what this new Congress does. Give them some time. Not a deadline. But some time.

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., appeared to agree, according to The Hill.

If I were the president, what I’d say to the Congress—House, Senate, Democrat or Republican—I’m going to give you a little bit of time and in the new Congress expect you to do something. I would say not the first month, maybe the first quarter.

Don Rosenberg, a father whose son was killed by an unlicensed illegal immigrant driver in 2010, joined Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning to discuss the safety threat posed by deferring deportations for millions of illegal immigrants.

In 2012, Obama signed an executive order, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), to stop the deportation of young illegal immigrants known as DREAMers. Now, immigrant rights activists and prominent Democrats like Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., are urging the Obama administration to expand that reprieve to millions more undocumented immigrants.

Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint penned an op-ed for Politico Thursday in which he described amnesty as an “injustice.”

Perversely, the president’s new plan will encourage those now contemplating an illegal border crossing to “go for it.” Like DACA, the impending order attempts to put out a fire with gasoline.

The humanitarian crisis last spring at our southern border arose from the lamentably accurate perception in Central and South America that the U.S. no longer enforces its immigration laws. Men, women and children bet their lives on a dangerous excursion northward in the belief that they can slip through the cracks in the American legal system and ultimately receive amnesty.

The Service Employees International Union tweeted its support for the president’s executive action using the hashtag #ImmigrationAction.

At the National Press Club Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson defended the legality of Obama’s executive order.

I am satisfied that our reforms are within our existing legal authorities and they will address a number of things including border security. The president is committed to border security. The president is committed to reducing illegal migration in the future. And so we will be announcing a set of comprehensive reforms, all within our existing legal authority to fix the broken immigration system.

According to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Obama’s actions follow “executive precedent.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, responded to comparisons of Obama’s executive order and executive action on immigration taken by Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1987 and George H.W. Bush in 1990:

The Democratic leadership wants to compare what’s being threatened here to the executive actions of past presidents on immigration.  But the actions of Presidents Reagan and Bush were merely tying up loose ends, carrying out a law Congress had just passed.  They established policies that were later put into statute in 1990.  President Obama is threatening to act directly against the wishes of Congress, and on a far greater scope and scale.

According to a poll released Wednesday by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, 48 percent of Americans oppose unilateral action by Obama on immigration. Many took to twitter to voice their concerns or support.

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