“The
President’s planned executive orders would expand this [work] permitting program
to another 5–6 million illegal immigrants… No Member—House or Senate, Democrat
or Republican—should support any bill with respect to the border crisis that
does not include language explicitly prohibiting the Administration from taking
such action… Every citizen should pick up the phone and ask of their
congressional representative: where do you stand?”
WASHINGTON—U.S.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
called on the American public today to rally Congress against the President’s
openly declared threat to implement, by executive order, the amnesty that
Congress has rejected:
“How Congress
chooses to act in the coming hours and days will determine whether the President
succeeds in his plan to nullify the immigration laws of the United States.
Just
yesterday, TIME magazine reported that the President is considering a
grant of ‘work authorization for perhaps several million undocumented
immigrants.’ Permitting those illegally present in the U.S. to work and take
jobs is contrary to plain law, which the President has no power to change. Yet
Democratic members of Congress have openly crowed about these planned executive
actions.
It has now
been extensively reported that these executive actions will likely expand his
Deferred Action program (DACA) to apply to an additional 5–6 million adult
illegal immigrants. The existing DACA program has been widely misunderstood. The
executive action did not, as The Hill writes today, only result in
‘deferred deportations for young undocumented immigrants.’ Illegal immigrants in
the interior of the U.S. have already, as a practical matter, been immune from
enforcement under this Administration. DACA applies to individuals up to 30
years of age and provides actual amnesty papers, photo ID, and work permits to
illegal immigrants—who can then take any job in America.
The
President’s planned executive orders would expand this permitting program to
another 5–6 million illegal immigrants. This would effectively end immigration
enforcement in America.
No
Member—House or Senate, Democrat or Republican—should support any bill with
respect to the border crisis that does not include language explicitly
prohibiting the Administration from taking such action. Congress must foreclose
any possibility of these unlawful executive actions before congressional funding
is granted. This is an essential precondition.
The American
people have begged and pleaded for years for our laws to be enforced. We have
people in our own country living in violence, fear, and poverty every single
day. They have demanded an immigration policy that puts their jobs, wages, and
communities first. Every citizen should pick up the phone and ask of their
congressional representative: where do you stand?”
BACKGROUND:
7/25/2014:
National Review, Gutiérrez: ‘I Think We Can Get 3 or 4, Maybe Even 5
Million People’ Amnesty via Executive Action
“Days after
telling La Raza convention attendees that he is confident President Obama will
use executive action to give legal status to millions of immigrants in the
United States illegally, Representative Luis Gutiérrez (D., Ill.) predicted that
the administration could legalize as many as 5 million people… Gutiérrez said he
will meet with White House officials later in the day ‘to negotiate additional
terms and avenues the president can use’ through executive
action.”
7/17/2014:
Daily Caller, Dem Lawmaker: Obama Has Promised To ‘Act Shortly’ By
Granting Amnesty To Many Illegals
“Democratic
lawmaker Tony Cardenas revealed that President Barack Obama promised the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Wednesday he will ‘act shortly’ to bypass
Congress and grant some form of amnesty to many illegal
immigrants…”
7/3/2014:
National Journal, Obama's Immigration Independence
Day
“Obama told
the group [of amnesty advocates] that Boehner had informed him on June 24 there
would be no votes on immigration before the midterm election but that he
believed there was a good chance a comprehensive bill could pass in the next
Congress. The president also told the group that Boehner urged him not to press
ahead with executive action because that would make legislating more difficult
next year.
Obama told the group, according to those present, his
response to Boehner was: ‘Sorry about that. I'm going to keep my promise and
move forward with executive action soon.’
In the room, there was something of a collective,
electric gasp. The assembled immigration-rights groups had been leaning hard on
Obama for months to use executive action to sidestep Congress and privately
mocked what they regarded as Pollyanna hopes that House Republicans would
budge…
Obama told the groups what they had been dying to
hear—that he was going to condemn House Republicans for inaction and…provide
legal status to millions of undocumented workers—all by
himself…
Obama made it
clear he would press his executive powers to the limit. He gave quiet credence
to recommendations from La Raza and other immigration groups that between 5
million to 6 million adult illegal immigrants could be spared deportation under
a similar form of deferred adjudication he ordered for the so-called Dreamers in
June 2012…
Obama has now
ordered the Homeland Security and Justice departments to find executive
authorities that could enlarge that non-prosecutorial umbrella by a factor of
10. Senior officials also tell me Obama wants to see what he can do with
executive power to provide temporary legal status to undocumented
adults.”
