The following story appeared in FAIR’s October 31 Legislative Update. To subscribe to FAIR’s Legislative Update click here.
Last week, Congressional leadership finally spoke out regarding the Obama Administration&’s unprecedented actions to circumvent Congress. The criticism came in the form of a report released by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that chronicles the Administration&’s power-grab through what he refers to as an “Imperial Presidency.” (See The Imperial Presidency Report, Oct. 2012) According to the report, President Obama has “attempted to garner legislative authority, failed, and then acted unilaterally in defiance. In other instances, the President…ignored Congress and its authority from the outset.” (Id.)
The report consists of forty examples of the President&’s deliberate circumvention of Congress, including two incidents illustrating the President&’s usurpation of federal immigration laws. (Id. at p. 20) The first is administrative amnesty, which was enacted through a series of memos from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton in 2011. Through these memos, President Obama has “systematically, on an ongoing basis, [blocked] illegal aliens from being placed into removal proceedings, already-initiated removal proceedings, and [ended] deportations for potentially large numbers of criminals aliens.” (Id.; see alsoFAIR Morton Memos Summary, Jan. 2012)
The second immigration-specific example in the report is President Obama&’s administrative implementation of the DREAM Act (what the Administration refers to as DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Despite the fact that Congress rejected the DREAM Act as recently as December of 2010, Secretary Napolitano nonetheless issued a memo in June announcing illegal aliens under thirty who meet certain criteria will be allowed to stay and work in the United States. (FAIR Legislative Update , June 19, 2012) The estimated 1.7 million illegal aliens who meet the criteria will be eligible for deferred action and work authorization “despite the fact that such deferred action is not authorized and under the law such individuals are subject to removal.” (See Report at p. 21, Oct. 2012)
The Administration initiated its backdoor amnesty programs despite President Obama&’s concession that he could not simply bypass Congress to implement the DREAM Act. “That,” he said, “[is] not how our democracy functions. That&’s not how our Constitution is written.” (National Journal , June 18, 2012) Illegal aliens granted work authorization under DACA will now be able to compete for jobs with the nation&’s 14.7% unemployed and underemployed individuals. (See BLS U-6 Unemployment Data , Sept. 2012)
Perhaps Obama’s DACA or Dream Act
Sounds good to the brainwashed open border extremists, but its clear anarchy against our current immigration laws on the books.
I sometimes wonder if Obama even knows what he’s doing. Dems complain that Romney isn’t suited for the job. They say he doesn’t have the experience. Does a Chicago “Organizer?” Don’t think so. His stint in Congress was nothing outstanding, so I believe a Governor could give him a run for his money, although they think too much alike on the immigration question. If Romney wins, we need to bombard the Oval Office with the fact that the more legal and illegals we bring in, the fewer jobs, land, resources, highway room, suitable schools and emergency rooms free for citizens we’ll have. Doesn’t anyone in Washington realize we are overwhelmed with people? Put a moratorium on all immigration immediately, put military on the border, stop benefits to non-citizens, implement E-verify in all businesses, and stop the insane birthright thing! Do an Eisenhower and demand illegals leave. And, above all, don’t pay any attention to the bleeding heart liberals whining about “We’re a nation of immigrants.” Every country is, but we don’t have to be a nation of ILLEGAL immigrants!