Miller Votes for Legislation to Stop Executive Action on Immigration

WASHINGTON D.C.  – Today, Rep. Candice Miller (MI-10), Vice Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, issued the following statement after voting for the Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act of 2014 (H.R. 5759), which reverses the President’s executive action on immigration and prevents the Administration from taking future action beyond the scope of its constitutional limitations to exempt or defer deportation of immigrants residing in the U.S. illegally:

“President Obama stated publicly on 22 separate occasions that he lacks the executive authority to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, once even stating, ‘I’m the President of the United States, I’m not the emperor of the United States.  My job is to execute the laws that are passed.’ I agree and so did the Framers of the U.S. Constitution. 

“Article I, Section 8 and Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution clearly give Congress the power and responsibility to establish our laws and the President the power and responsibility to enforce them.  Sadly, despite the will of the American people and his constitutional limitations, the President decided to bypass Congress and grant amnesty to millions.  And just as we saw after the President’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program which contributed to this summer’s surge of unaccompanied minors illegally crossing our southern border, his most recent constitutional overreach is certain to increase the number of those seeking refuge in the U.S. illegally.

“In addition to creating and adopting a strategic plan to improve our border security, which I fully expect the Republican-controlled House and Senate to complete in early 2015, we need to reverse this most recent, unashamed overreach.  In order to accomplish that and stop future action that violates the Administration’s constitutional limitations and worsens our already broken immigration system, the Senate must take this bill up immediately and pass it.”

The Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act of 2014 (H.R. 5759):

• Reaffirms the constitutional principles that only Congress has the power to write immigration laws and that the President must enforce those laws;

• Prevents President Obama or any future president from exempting or deferring the removal of categories of unlawful aliens except to the extent that the president is relying on his constitutional powers over foreign affairs or utilizing exceptions provided for in the bill for exceptional humanitarian and law enforcement circumstances;

• Prevents President Obama or any future president from considering such aliens to be lawfully present in the United States (and thus ineligible for the rights and privileges available to lawfully present aliens);

• Prevents President Obama or any future president from granting work authorization to such aliens; and

• Takes effect as if enacted on November 20, 2014, thus nullifying the President’s recent executive action.

   

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