The federal lawmaking process can be ugly. Good bills in Congress are often defeated, and bad bills are often passed. But the Constitution delegates to Congress – not to the president nor to the courts – the power to write the laws under which we must live. So messy or not, that is the process that should be followed.
It is extremely troubling, therefore, to learn that the Obama administration is considering ways that it can legalize potentially millions of illegal aliens without the approval by Congress that any such change requires.
The move is a response to the administration’s frustration that Congress has not granted amnesty to the estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the United States.
Here is how The Associated Press reported the story: “The Obama administration, unable to push an immigration overhaul through Congress, is considering ways it could go around lawmakers to let undocumented immigrants stay in the United States, according to an agency memo. The internal draft written by officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services outlines ways the government could provide ‘relief’ to illegal immigrants – including delaying deportation for some, perhaps indefinitely, or granting green cards to others … .”
The memo talked about ways to “reduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the United States without authorization,” and it said the citizenship agency “can extend benefits and/or protections to many individuals or groups.”
What business is it of the federal government – which is supposed to be upholding immigration law – to be fighting to keep illegals in this country? Why should they face a reduced “threat of removal” after they broke our laws? And is it not absurd that there is talk of “extending benefits” to illegals?
Those are exactly the things the American people have said over and over in vote after vote that they do not want!
“Now we find out the truth: While saying one thing to the public, the Obama administration is scheming to ensure that immigration laws are not enforced,” said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas.
The administration said it was only considering various ideas, and a spokesman said the government “will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.”
That sounds like a word game. The administration could seek to give amnesty to millions of illegals without technically giving it to the “entire illegal immigrant population.”
Amnesty for illegals should not be imposed in direct defiance of the will of the American people. It most certainly should not be imposed by “presidential decree.”