Robert Menendez

Menendez Responds to Republican Attacks on Executive Action

“On immigration reform our Republican friends have become the poster children for double standards.”

December 2, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) spoke on the Senate floor today in response to Republican attacks on the President’s immigration executive action, and their ongoing efforts to preserve our broken immigration system.

Below are his remarks:

“I come to the floor to speak about the President’s executive order on immigration… I have been listening to my colleagues both here and on the other side of the Capitol, and I rise in amazement – it’s almost incredulous -- that our Republican friends are against the President taking the same action that Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush took to defer deportation to solve a critical problem that we all know exists in the country – a problem that impacts millions.

"But now when President Obama exercises the same executive authority – the same – they are on the air, on television, on the talk shows and Twitter, fear-mongering – calling it illegal. Calling it amnesty. A constitutional crisis. But where was all of that when President Reagan and President Bush did it? They hold hearings in the House titled “Open Borders:  The Impact of Presidential Amnesty on Border Security,” which is a little ridiculous because we have more border security under this Administration than we’ve had in the history of the Congress – in the history, I should say, of the United States. As a matter of fact, we spend more on border enforcement and immigration enforcement than all of the other federal law enforcement entities combined. They threaten to sue the government, or even shut it down – the irony of which is laughable, as a shutdown over conducting background checks and COLLECTING taxes from undocumented immigrants would only COST current taxpayers billions of dollars if it’s anything like the last one Republicans forced.

"Double standard? Absolutely! It is the very definition of “double standard.” On immigration reform our Republican friends, particularly on the other side of the Capitol, have become the poster child for double standards.

"On the one hand, they know the political ramifications of the demographic reality. On the other, they refuse to catch up with history and fix our broken immigration system.

"They’re sailing against the headwinds of history... and now they want to prevent the President from pulling them to shore – saving them from their own immobility, their own inaction.

"They’re also sailing against the headwinds of what the American people want. In poll after poll, we’ve seen that the American people want to fix our broken immigration system and that [S.744] – which the Senate passed, and I was honored to be one of the Group of 8 that put it together a year and a half ago and passed with an overwhelming bipartisan vote -- has still the highest ratings among the American people. It’s sitting in the House of Representatives for the last year and a half. A new Gallup poll shows that the President’s approval rating among all voters has not gone down since the executive action announcement was made, as some predicted it would, but rather, it has increased five percentage points among all voters since early November.

"So in my view, any “action” – executive or otherwise – is movement in the right direction and what America expects of its leaders. Americans are expecting someone to act, someone to tackle the difficult issues, and immigration – particularly for our House colleagues – seems to be a very difficult issue they can’t tackle.

"Now it’s not difficult for me, and it’s not really difficult for most Americans, who believe in the power of common sense – not for those who believe in the need to secure our borders, to secure the country, to promote economic opportunity, and to preserve our history as a nation of immigrants and that core value of family values.

"Mr. President, I cannot recall anyone coming to this floor and praising inaction. Praising a President for not having done enough as a matter of consequence. But that’s exactly what our Republican colleagues are doing; once again standing squarely on the wrong side of history – in fact, on the wrong side of their own history – invoking the “double standard” and claiming what’s right for their Party’s presidents is wrong for this President.

"History is a funny thing. We can choose to ignore it, but eventually it catches up with you and it has finally caught up with my Republican colleagues.

"Now, Mr. President, I repeat what I have said all along: The antidote to executive action is passing immigration reform.

"Let’s be clear, regardless of how big or how bold the President’s announcement may be, a permanent legislative solution continues to be our ultimate objective.

"Administrative relief will not grant anyone – anyone – legal status or citizenship, but it will clear the way for many to come out of the shadows, come to the government and register themselves, go through a criminal background check, have to pass that check, get a work permit, and pay taxes – as the rest of us do. And because of the President’s executive action, the nature of who’s eligible is really people who have US Citizen family here. It will prevent needless deportations and give a chance to those who want nothing more than to keep their families together. We’re talking about millions of hardworking people who, right now, many are exploiting, creating downward pressure on the salaries and wages of all Americans by virtue of that exploitation, and we have an opportunity to change that. I’d rather know who is here to pursue the American Dream rather than do it harm, but I can’t know that unless I get people to come forth and go through a criminal background check.

"So if my Republican colleagues are so concerned about getting immigration policy right – if they are so concerned about the President overstepping his authority, which is the same authority that Republican presidents use, they can exert their own authority and push our bipartisan bill over the finish line with one vote – one vote – in the House of Representatives.

"The President has said himself that he acted because there is a cost to waiting – a cost measured in the thousands of parents of U.S. Citizen children who are deported, husbands and wives who are separated from their U.S. citizen spouse, and economic consequences. Now, I know there are some who suggested, let’s wait until the next Congress, let’s wait to see, give them a little time, well….

"This is the same Republican Party, particularly in the House of Representatives, that blocked immigration reform in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2014 – despite a strong bipartisan bill here. So, if they wish, they can join us at the negotiating table with their own proposals, and their own solutions, because doing nothing and maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. And that’s precisely why they didn’t want the President to follow through on what he told them. He waited on executive action. He gave them advance notice. He said, I want you to act, but if you don’t act eventually, I will have to act.

"Now let’s look at what my Republican friends find so objectionable.

"To put it simply, the Administration is creating a new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), a program that provides deferred action – on a case-by-case basis – to undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents – those who were present in the U.S. on Nov. 20 of this year, those who have continuously lived in the U.S. for five years, since Jan. 1, 2010, and are not an enforcement priority. Also, by expanding that program that already exists for Dreamers by expanding the age content.

"Now, this isn’t amnesty, because amnesty means you did something wrong, you’re forgiven, and you’re on your pathway to getting whatever you want. Amnesty means you get something for nothing. First of all, these people have no pathway to becoming a permanent resident or citizen under the President’s executive order. Secondly, their only opportunity is not to be deported, assuming they can pass a criminal background check and pay their taxes. Now, as a result of the President’s order, more people will go to the Southern border to protect it, more people will pay taxes who may not be paying them now, more families will stay reunited, and more people who are in the shadows will come forth, register with the government, and go through a criminal background check. I’d like to know who those people are and I’d like to make sure they don’t have a criminal background. And more criminals and felons will be deported, because now it will be the priority to deport those individuals. What’s wrong with those sets of circumstances?  

"So, this is temporary relief as the Congress hopefully comes together on a more permanent basis.

"In my state of New Jersey, approximately 137,000 parents of U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents will benefit from the new action. About 67,000 will benefit from the new program on children.

"That’s an estimated 204,000 people in New Jersey who can come out of the shadows and contribute to the community and the economy. These are moms and dads – good people, hard-working people – who can register with the government, pass a background check, get a work permit, pay taxes, and no longer fear deportation. And take care of their families as well.

"The fact is, because of the President’s executive actions, more felons will be deported, more resources will go toward our border, more families will stay together, and more people will pay taxes. These are all good things.

"As a matter of fact, the Council of Economic Advisers has found, over the next decade, the range of executive actions announced by the President will increase our gross domestic product by up to nine-tenths of a percent, an additional $210 billion. It will reduce the federal deficit by $25 billion through increased economic growth, and it will raise the average wages for all U.S. workers by three-tenths of a percent.

"The executive action the President has taken and the Republicans have criticized will increase the productivity of our workforce. How? By allowing those – from undocumented immigrants to spouses of highly skilled H-1B visa holders – to be part of a formal economy and match the skills they have with the skills needed in entrepreneurial start-ups that they often create.

"And, by the way, that’s a fraction of the economic benefits of what we did here on a bipartisan basis that is sitting in the House of Representatives for the last year and a half. The Senate bill that we passed, according to the Congressional Budget Office – the nonpartisan scoring division of everything we do here – will increase the Gross Domestic Product of the United States by over 3 percent in 2023 (that’s less than 9 years) and 5.4 percent – 5.4 percent! – in 2033, an increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033. It will reduce the federal deficit by $197 billion over the next decade and another $700 billion between 2024 and 2033. That’s almost a trillion dollars in deficit spending that can be lifted from the backs of the next generation of Americans by giving 11 million people a pathway to citizenship.

"What do we ever do that we pass that grows the economy, reduces the deficit, and creates more jobs for all Americans? Very little. The immigration bill that the Senate passed and that’s been pending in the House does all of that, in addition to securing our border.

"So, let’s be clear, the President’s executive actions are only temporary steps. Only Congress can finish the job. Deferred action is an act of prosecutorial discretion, but it’s not a path to citizenship or a permanent solution.

"The fact is we’ve waited and waited and waited. And in the absence of any Republican action in the House on immigration reform, the President has used the power he has available that other Presidents have used as well.

"If the Republicans are concerned about executive action, they should use their own power to pass immigration reform – either the Senate bill or their own vision of what comprehensive reform is.

"Now, for those who question the legality of this, I would just simply say, there are three letters – one before the executive action and two after – from law professors and former General Counsels of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Chief Counsels of USCIS. They say the President has the authority. He is on sound legal footing.

"So we are tired of waiting for Republicans to say “yes” to something. “Yes” to taking action that is in the interest of millions in this country who expect leadership, expect action, expect progress, and expect cooperation – not confrontation and obstruction.

"Millions of families are tired of waiting. The nation is tired of waiting for Republicans to catch up with history – in this case, with the lessons of their own history.

"Let us invite our Republican friends to invoke the memory of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and, for once, commend this President for following their lead and doing what is right by the nation, doing what is right by our taxpayers, doing what is right by our security, and doing what is right by our families.

"And with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor and observe the absence of the quorum.”

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