--- title: Boehner: Immigration Action Damages The Presidency description: Speaker John Boehner said President Obama's immigration actions are "damaging the presidency itself." canonical: https://time.com/3599401/boehner-immigration-presidency-emperor/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-21T14:56:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:37:17.318Z article:section: Politics og:title: Boehner: Immigration Action Damages The Presidency og:description: Speaker John Boehner said President Obama's immigration actions are "damaging the presidency itself." og:url: https://time.com/3599401/boehner-immigration-presidency-emperor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3664ae30fc57b833/69876a408e0601ef2f458be8/john-boehner-gop-immigration-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Speaker of the House John Boehner denounces the executive order on immigration made by U.S. President Barack Obama during a statement on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boehner: Immigration Action Damages The Presidency twitter:description: Speaker John Boehner said President Obama's immigration actions are "damaging the presidency itself." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3664ae30fc57b833/69876a408e0601ef2f458be8/john-boehner-gop-immigration-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Boehner: Immigration Action Damages The Presidency > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Nov 21, 2014 2:56 PM UTC  Speaker of the House John Boehner denounces the executive order on immigration made by U.S. President Barack Obama during a statement on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, 2014. Speaker of the House John Boehner denounces the executive order on immigration made by U.S. President Barack Obama during a statement on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, 2014. Joshua Roberts—Reuters by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Nov 21, 2014 2:56 PM UTC House Speaker John Boehner said President Barack Obama is “damaging the presidency itself” by unilaterally providing temporary legal status and work permits to millions of immigrants who are living in the country illegally. “With this action he has refused to listen to the American people,” said Boehner in a press conference Friday. “The President has taken actions that he himself has said are those of a king or an emperor, not an American president.” Boehner did not lay out a specific response to counter the President’s executive action, the largest American immigration move in decades, but promised that “the House will in fact act.” Republicans are considering everything from using the power of the purse to a lawsuit in response. The latter move may prove unsuccessful, as some of the most high-profile American [legal scholars](http://time.com/3598182/immigration-reform-executive-actions-barack-obama-deportations/), including Harvard’s Laurence Tribe, have said that the action was within the President’s lawful authority. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3599401/boehner-immigration-presidency-emperor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3599401/boehner-immigration-presidency-emperor/"},"headline":"Boehner: Immigration Action Damages The Presidency","datePublished":"2014-11-21T14:56:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:37:17.318Z","description":"Speaker promised the House will respond","url":"https://time.com/3599401/boehner-immigration-presidency-emperor/","keywords":["Immigration","Congress","Barack Obama","John Boehner"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3664ae30fc57b833/69876a408e0601ef2f458be8/john-boehner-gop-immigration-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3664ae30fc57b833/69876a408e0601ef2f458be8/john-boehner-gop-immigration-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Speaker of the House John Boehner denounces the executive order on immigration made by U.S. President Barack Obama during a statement on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, 2014.","caption":"Speaker of the House John Boehner denounces the executive order on immigration made by U.S. President Barack Obama during a statement on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, 2014.","creditText":"Joshua Roberts—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3599401/boehner-immigration-presidency-emperor/","name":"Boehner: Immigration Action Damages The Presidency"}}]}] ```