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President Obamas action on immigration represented a breach of the Constitution that will encourage more people to cross the border illegally, the chairman of a House committee said Tuesday in the latest wave of criticism of the action that Republicans call an overreach by the president.

Our immigration system is broken, and we need to fix it, said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas.Theres a right way to do this and a wrong way, and unfortunately, the president has chosen the wrong way.

Theyve taken a sweeping approach to prosecutorial discretion that makes a mockery of the law, McCaul said.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, appearing before the committee, countered that he was confident that the action last month, which protects some 5 million people from deportation, was well within the presidents legal authority. He said that Obama only acted after it became clear that House Speaker John Boehner was not going to be able to corral the votes to pass an immigration reform bill, and after midterm elections.

Weve waited a considerable amount of time, Johnson said.

Obama announced last month that the administration would offer three-year work permits to people who have been in the country at least five years, and who are parents of citizens or other legal residents. That provision could shelter an estimated 4 million people, but does not offer a path to citizenship or legal status. The action also would open the door for more people who came as children to apply for a reprieve from deportation.

McCaul said that the program, by giving the impression that the U.S. isnt interested in removing unauthorized people, would become a powerful magnet that encourages more illegal immigration.

If we dont think that message is making its way back to Mexico and Central America, we are simply fooling ourselves, McCaul said.

But Johnson said the program will allow the department to focus more resources on border enforcement and on finding and removing criminals.

The reality is that, given our limited resources, these people are not, and have not been for years, priorities for removal, Johnson said. Its time we acknowledge that and encourage them to be held accountable. That is simple common sense.

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Republicans attack Obama's action on immigration as unconstitutional