Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's comments on immigration executive action have been under the spotlight even by the White House.

As Latin Post reported, during a roundtable immigration discussion in Las Vegas, Clinton said, "If Congress continues to refuse to act, as president, I would do everything possible under the law to go even further. There are more people like many parents of DREAMers and others with deep ties and contributions to our communities who deserve a chance to stay, and I will fight for them."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about Clinton's remarks. A reporter asked, "[President Barack Obama] has said that he's already expanded authorities as far as he legally can under existing statute. So has he changed his opinion on that? Or what are his thoughts?"

Earnest said the president's views have not changed and the administration already spoke about the limits of his executive authority.

"And, in fact, we did take the extraordinary step of releasing the Office of Legal Counsel opinion, where we talked about the limits of executive authority when it comes to taking steps to reform our broken immigration system," said Earnest during the White House press briefing. "The president was determined to use as much of his authority as he could to try to bring some much needed accountability to our broken immigration system and that was reflected in the announcement that he made back in November on this."

When asked about the legality of future presidents expanding Obama's immigration executive actions, Earnest said that would be a topic for future presidents and future courts to decide.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) highlighted remarks Clinton has previously made about immigration, including an interview then-New York Sen. Clinton participated in for The John Gambling Radio Show in February 2003.

"We've got to do several things and I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants," Clinton said in 2003. "I made this exception basically on humanitarian grounds because of the individual story, but certainly we've got to do more at our borders."

Clinton continued, "And people have to stop employing illegal immigrants. Come up to Westchester, go to Suffolk and Nassau counties, stand in the street corners in Brooklyn or the Bronx -- you're going to see loads of people waiting to get picked up to go do yard work and construction work and domestic work."

RNC Hispanic Media Director Ruth Guerra said in a statement, "Hillary Clinton's hypocrisy knows no bounds. As a presidential candidate, Hillary will say anything to get elected, but as a senator she was singing a different tune and voted to essentially kill immigration reform. This is just another example of why the American people cannot trust Hillary Clinton to care about the issues important to them, as she only really cares about what is most beneficial to her politically."

During the May 5 roundtable discussion, Clinton still called for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform but noted, if elected, she will act instead if lawmakers refuse to act.

"We cannot wait any longer for a path for full and equal citizenship," said Clinton at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. "This is where I differ with everybody on the Republican side. Make no mistakes, today not a single Republican candidate -- announced or potential -- is clearly and consistently supporting a path to citizenship, not one, when they talk about legal status, that's code for second class status."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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