Recently, the Obama administration said it would review the cases of illegal immigrants currently in deportation proceedings. It has been reported that this directive will affect more than 300,000 illegals. These "low-priority" offenders, including the elderly, crime victims, and those who have been here since childhood, will be allowed to stay in the United States through a work permit.
This is an unconstitutional power-grab by the president since he does not have the authority to repeal, suspend, or reinterpret federal laws. He tried to implement his own agenda, going through the back door, doing this while Congress is in recess.
California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R) emphasized, "[T]he illegals were designated to be deported and now the president wants to figure out who the good illegals are and separate them from the bad ones." Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R) is one of the original leaders to make sure the states have the inherent authority to enforce the immigration laws. He told American Thinker that this latest ploy by the president shows that Obama "has no respect for the rule of law. When you enter this country illegally you are breaking the law. This shows he has no intention of enforcing the law and has circumvented it. This is a complete abuse of authority. The president does not understand that these policies are hurting our nations ability to recover."
Maybe the president should take advice from Vice President Biden, who said, "[T]he number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S: jobs."
This latest immigration policy is undermining the ability for American citizens to get jobs and is instead giving preferential treatment to those who did everything wrong.
Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-CA) wishes that the president would understand that people who are trying to feed their families would take fallback jobs, and it is a false premise that illegal immigrants take only jobs that American workers do not want. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) is stronger in his denunciation of this new directive, calling this immigration policy "crazy since Americans are suffering with unemployment hovering nationwide around 10%. This is a finger in the eye of unemployed Americans. The goal should be to create jobs for Americans not illegals. He is displacing American workers at a time when they need jobs the most."
Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) sarcastically noted, "We all thought the president had a jobs plan but did not realize it was for illegal aliens. It will hurt those Americans that would have filled the vacuum of the lower-paying jobs."
Assemblyman Donnelly wants Americans to understand that this presidential directive focuses on violent offenders and looks the other way for minor violators. It ignores those Americans who are killed or injured by illegal aliens. He cites the example of a Santa Rosa, California four-year-old who was run down by an illegal immigrant last week. This man was arrested twice before for driving without a license, since he was unable to obtain it because of his illegal status. Angrily, Donnelly commented, "These tragedies occur all the time but this one was preventable. Going back to the Obama Directive, since the illegal originally only committed a misdemeanor he would not have been deported. I guess we are not going to take people into custody and deport them until they kill someone."
All agreed with the president that immigrants have helped to make America great, but all emphasize that it was legal immigrants. Haydee Dawson, a member of Arizona's Latino Republican Association, told American Thinker her story. She is a naturalized citizen from El Salvador. Her mom came here with a visa, got a job, and applied for residency. It took three years before she and her brother received approval and were reunited with their parents. She wants the president to recognize that "there is a right way of doing it. I am upset that we are rewarding those immigrants for actually breaking the laws of this country. This is a real slap in my face -- someone who did it the right way."
The states also feel like they were slapped in the face because of the economic costs they will have to endure. Governor Brewer believes that the president does not understand that this directive "will be absolutely devastating to our economy. It is just an open invitation for those to come across our border. We will be bombarded. Border security must be our first priority. We keep ignoring the root of the problem. They will be sucking up our jobs, using our health systems, using our educational systems, and lined up for all the entitlement programs at a time when states are facing huge budget deficits. If this happens there is no way we can sustain it. It is the wrong thing to do at a time when states like mine are dealing with the costs and crimes of illegal immigration."
Is there anything that can be done to stop this outrageous executive order? Governor Brewer is hoping that Congress and the Republican presidential candidates step up to the plate. She is anticipating in the next few months that "we will hear the Republican candidates speak out on the issues of the border and illegal aliens. With this executive fiat the president has issued I would think the American public would want to hear from them." She also wants Congress to take action since "this is another blow to the direction we want to lead our state and our country. Whatever they decide I will be standing right beside them or behind them."
It appears that she will be able to stand beside them since Gallegly and McCaul will be conducting hearings as soon as Congress reconvenes. McCaul told American Thinker that he hopes to enact legislation that prevents the president from implementing this directive and will look to see if it is in violation of existing law. Gallegly, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy, will focus on how the president is selectively enforcing certain laws by picking and choosing. He wants to demonstrate to "Americans that those the president claims to protect, the most vulnerable in our society, are the ones he is hurting more than anyone. We need to eliminate the carrots, the incentives, and the rewards for violating the laws. One of my jobs is to provide information to inform the American people about the real facts, the real numbers, and the real impact. The lack of laws is not the problem, but rather the lack of enforcement."
Everyone interviewed agreed with Governor Brewer that this policy "is absolutely hypocritical. I was absolutely flabbergasted and was not sure I heard right what the president was saying. This whole policy is a step in the wrong direction. I believe overwhelmingly that the American people don't support this and there will be a backlash. The American people support the rule of law. This is just a backdoor amnesty." At a time when American citizens are hurting due to the record levels of unemployment and foreclosures, the president should be concentrating on enforcing the immigration laws, not breaking them.
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