REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) listens to U.S. President Barack Obama speak during a meeting with members of his cabinet at the White House in Washington November 28, 2012.
"I support the president's decision to begin fixing our broken immigration system and focus finite resources on deporting felons rather than families," Clinton said in a statement.
Clinton, like Obama, said House Republican inaction is to blame for the president moving forward unilaterally on the immigration issue. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, had previously passed an immigration bill that stalled in the lower legislative chamber.
"I was hopeful that the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate in 2013 would spur the House of Representatives to act, but they refused even to advance an alternative. Their abdication of responsibility paved the way for this executive action, which follows established precedent from Presidents of both parties going back many decades. But, only Congress can finish the job by passing permanent bipartisan reform that keeps families together," Clinton continued.
Clinton further urged the US public to take an even-keeled approach to the hot-button issue.
"Our disagreements on this important issue may grow heated at times, but I am confident that people of good will and good faith can yet find common ground. We should never forget that we're not discussing abstract statistics we're talking about real families with real experiences. We're talking about parents lying awake at night afraid of a knock on the door that could tear their families apart, people who love this country, work hard, and want nothing more than a chance to contribute to the community and build better lives for themselves and their children," she said.