By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Congressman Mo Brooks (R) from Huntsville commented on President Obama’s decision to grant many young undocumented aliens a two year stay on any deportation efforts and the opportunity to get a work visa.
Rep. Brooks said on the floor of the Congress, “Last week the White House decreed partial amnesty for an estimated 3 million illegal aliens [1] and mandated acceptance of illegal alien work permit applications. The White House decree is bad for America.” “In 2009, the Pew Hispanic Center found that 7.8 million struggling American families have already lost job opportunities to illegal aliens. America suffers an 8.2% unemployment rate. Even worse, Hispanic Americans suffer an 11% unemployment rate. Even worse, African Americans suffer a 14% unemployment rate. Even worse, American teenagers suffer a 25% unemployment rate. All are hammered by a White House decree that grants as many as 3 million illegal aliens work permits. I understand heartfelt compassion for illegal aliens, but where is the compassion for millions of Americans who are unemployed and suffering from jobs lost to illegal aliens? Where is the compassion for American taxpayers who must pay higher taxes to support millions of extra unemployed?”
Congressman Brooks said, “The Constitution states, and I quote, ‘All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States,’ and, ‘The Congress shall have the power…. to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.’ “The Constitution does not empower a president to make law. Hence, the ONLY way to change immigration law is as our Constitution demands – through Congress – not by imperial decree.”
Rep. Brooks said that illegal immigration is costing the nation billions in addition to sending more American citizens to the unemployment lines: “The 1980s amnesty taught foreigners that America won’t enforce its immigration laws. The result is over ten million illegal aliens in America and an immigration mess that is destructive to America. A 2011 Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform study found that illegal aliens cost American taxpayers a net loss of $99 billion dollars a year. Illegal aliens overcrowd our schools and need costly English interpreters. In 2011, illegal aliens drove up America’s K-12 education costs by $49 billion dollars per year. Illegal aliens overcrowd our emergency rooms, delay treatment for Americans, and drive up health care costs. Illegal aliens commit crimes, sometimes heinous, against American citizens and burden taxpayers with higher jail costs. In my home county, more Madison Countians have been killed by illegal aliens than have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan combined!”
There are an estimated 11 million foreign citizens living inside the borders of the United States without legal residency. President Obama supports giving most of those people a pathway to American citizenship. Critics of America’s lax enforcement of our existing immigration law say that any amnesty will only encourage more people to enter the country without visas. Many Republicans in Congress prefer a more active effort on the part of the federal government to encourage illegal immigrants to return home.
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court struck down three provisions of a state of Arizona Law that put pressure on illegal aliens to ‘self deport.’ The Court ruled that America’s immigration and naturalization process was exclusively a federal authority and that states had no power to arrest or punish persons for violations of federal immigration law. It is unlikely that Congress will undertake any sort of comprehensive immigration reform until after the November election.
Congressman Mo Brooks represents Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District.
