Senate Democrats have publicly backed President Obama's plan to circumvent the legislature and implement immigration reform via executive action.
"We strongly support your plan to improve as much of the immigration system as you can within your legal authority," Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democratic leaders wrote Monday in a letter to the White House.
Republicans claim Obama would be overstepping his constitutional authority by acting alone on immigration. Yet citing similar actions taken by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Senate Democrats said Obama would be following precedent.