(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-La.), Chair of the Senate Border Security Caucus, made the following statement regarding President Obama’s plan to grant executive amnesty by providing legal status and work permits to five million illegal immigrants.

“President Obama’s executive amnesty is illegitimate, unconstitutional, and flat out horrible policy. This will only encourage more immigrants to come here illegally, completely undercutting the many immigrants who do follow our law. In fact, it will probably make it harder to legally become a citizen than just come here illegally. We must start with effective enforcement, both at the border and the workplace. I'm absolutely going to do everything I can to push back on Obama’s illegal actions – starting with working to take away any funding for amnesty,” Vitter said.

Vitter has long been an advocate for targeted reforms to fix the immigration crisis, starting with border security and enforcing the immigration laws that already exist.

Enforcement Bills introduced by Vitter:

Deportation of UACs – implements mandatory detention and expedited removal of the unaccompanied alien children (UAC).

Stop DACA – prevents the federal government from spending money to process new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA would allow the Administration from protecting people from being deported. This bill was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Vitter is an original co-sponsor.

US-VISIT – prevents any adjustment in legal status for those in the country illegally until the Department of Homeland Security entry-exit biometric visa system (US-VISIT) is fully implemented at every land, sea, and airport. The system was required by Congress in 1996 to be implemented in 2005 but has yet to be implemented.

Child Tax Credit – prevents illegal aliens from receiving the Child Tax Credit intended for American citizens and legal residents by closing a loophole with Internal Revenue System. This would save $4.2 billion each year.

WIRE Act – requires a fee on remittances for customers who wire money to another country but cannot prove that they are in the United States legally. The fee would be used to enhance border security.

Census – requires questions in the census regarding citizenship and immigration status. This would also prevent states from counting illegal aliens for the purposes of determining population levels and other data associated with the census.