Congressman Jim Bridenstine Declares Executive Amnesty Is Unconstitutional, Unfair, Costly, and Dangerous

Tonight, President Obama announced a series of executive orders regarding immigration.  His executive amnesty is illegal, unfair, costly, and dangerous because it will spur a wave of further illegal immigration.  

• It’s illegal and unconstitutional for the President to usurp legislative power clearly delegated to Congress.  The President has no statutory authority or inherent power to apply prosecutorial discretion to millions of people.    
• It’s unfair to millions of legal immigrants that have played by the rules, and it’s unfair to the American workforce as labor rates will decline.
• It’s costly because most amnestied illegals will have immediate access to taxpayer funded benefits such as Medicaid, Obamacare, Social Security, and Unemployment Insurance.
• It’s dangerous because amnesty encourages further illegal immigration facilitated by our unsecure border.

Last month, I visited with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and National Guard personnel manning the Rio Grande Valley sector of the southern border – the area most trafficked by cartels smuggling people, drugs, and weapons into the United States.  The border is not secure.  CBP is undermanned, underfunded, and hampered by ridiculous environmental protection laws that limit patrol and surveillance access across much of the border.  

I also learned that the cartels – and the foreign governments that abet smuggling operations – are deeply sensitive to changes in U.S. immigration policy.  During the Unaccompanied Children surge crisis, House Republicans passed a bill to suspend foreign aid to Central American countries until they acted to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.  Though President Obama ignored our bill, the mere threat of congressional action prompted consular officials from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to instruct detained illegals to stay home once deported.  

How should Congress respond to Obama’s illegal executive amnesty?  Congress should exercise the power of the purse to withhold funding necessary to implement the President’s amnesty.  I hope the President does not choose to shut down the government to enact an executive action that American does not want, that Congress did not vote for, and that is unconstitutional.                

CONTACT:
Sheryl Kaufman, Communications Director
Phone: 202-225-2211
Email Address: Sheryl.Kaufman@mail.house.gov

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