Congress returns this week and assuming they haven’t already forgotten the mid-term election mandate, their first order of business must be to reinstate the rule of law and rein in the president’s abuse of immigration policy. “Reconstruction” must begin.
For six years, the Obama administration has been obsessed with centralizing power but has refused to use it to enforce immigration laws. Instead, it has dismantled enforcement and intimidated states that have tried to enact bills reacting to the inaction in Washington. States have fought valiantly to keep themselves solvent and safe against the cost and impact of illegal immigration but have felt the iron-fisted blows of Eric Holder’s Department of Justice each time they acted. During this same period, the Obama administration has put in place endless backdoor amnesties, effectively nullified most of the laws written by Congress, dissolved any limiting principle in immigration and continues to exert ever expanding executive powers. Not surprisingly, illegal immigration has surged and costs have skyrocketed
Thus, the recent executive amnesty – while consequential – is really just the expected cherry on the poop sundae. It is, however, the crucial point at which a reaction is required given that our continuing immigration and enforcement crisis has become a constitutional crisis as well.
The counter attack requires immediate action by both states and the Congress, each ideally reinforcing the arguments of the other.
States must act because they cannot survive a federal government that is exercising an unbridled prerogative to impose crushing burdens on them. States bear the mounting costs of providing health care, education and incarceration to illegal aliens as a direct result of the federal government’s willful neglect of interior and border immigration enforcement. Legal standing in the courts is the major hurdle; nonetheless, 25 states are acting because they understand they have an urgent obligation to protect their resources from being depleted by further flows of illegal aliens, a phenomenon that is most certainly not speculative nor abstract. History shows that increased illegal immigration is axiomatic in the aftermath of massive amnesties and each state can tangibly demonstrate the current cost of illegal immigration.
Likewise, Congress must act using both legal force and fiscal constraints. The president has a constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws Congress writes are faithfully executed.” There’s no clause that says…“except of course if Obama doesn’t really feel like it.” There is no point in having this language in the Constitution unless Congress and the courts recognize their responsibility to hold the president accountable for obeying the law. Congress must also act to restore its power to “establish a uniform rule of naturalization” under Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution, meaning Congress makes the laws; the president must carry them out. Both assertions are legally solid. Finally, Congress must use the power of the purse to defund any activities related to carrying out Obama’s executive action within the upcoming DHS appropriations bill.
Obama’s amnesty represents the use of an unconstitutional means, an unsavory political motive and a tangible adverse impact on the states, all compelling reasons to make the president a defendant and strip away funds he may use to carry out amnesty.
The states and Congress must act quickly, in tandem, using both legal and fiscal maneuvers. Doing so may rein in the president’s abuse of power but action now serves another purpose: all remedies must be reasonably exhausted should impeachment and removal from office become a necessary and next step.