Republicans have reportedly backed from earlier calls for impeachment of US President Barack Obama for his executive action on immigration over fear of him becoming a martyr.
According to The Washington Times, Even Rep. Steve King, one of the most fiery opponents of the president's "executive amnesty" for illegal immigrants, backed away from his previous calls for impeachment.
Referring to Obama's executive action and the subsequent call for his impeachment, the Iowa Republican told CNN "no one wanted to throw the nation into that kind of turmoil".
When asked if he would support calls for impeachment of Obama, Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, said he wouldn't want to make a martyr out of him.
The report said that some argued that an impeachment would fail to remove Obama from office while undermining other congressional moves to reverse the executive action aimed at granting legal status to nearly half of the United States' estimated 12 million undocumented residents.
