Obama Says Threats to Shut Down Homeland Security ‘Irresponsible’

US President Barack Obama wrote in an op-ed for The Hill about his hope that new,Republican-led Congress would "seek to govern responsibly by supporting commonsense solutions to the challenge of immigration." Also he called threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security ‘irresponsible’.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to fight any attempts to reverse his immigration reform, calling threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security ‘irresponsible’.

“It was my hope that a new, Republican-led Congress would seek to govern responsibly by supporting commonsense solutions to one of our country’s greatest challenges, just like President Bush and Sen. John McCain tried to nearly a decade ago,” Obama wrote in an op-ed for The Hill.

Obama: I'll 'fight any attempt' to reverse immigration action http://t.co/XGjva2QBsX pic.twitter.com/wDTRiF7RoL

— The Hill (@thehill) February 24, 2015

Instead, a series of votes have been cast to deport young people “who are American in every way except on paper”, the president continued.

“We’ve even heard irresponsible threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, the very agency tasked with securing our borders and keeping Americans safe in a time of new threats, for no reason other than partisan disagreement over my actions.”

Obama announced his decision to protect some five million illegal immigrants from being deported and provide them with work authorization in late 2014.

On Monday, US senators voted for a fourth time to reject debate on the US Department of Homeland Security funding bill in a bid to halt the president’s immigration reform. Funding for the department is expected to run out on Friday.