By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, October 5, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R) from Alabama said in a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, that the Senate should pass House legislation to block President Obama’s planned Executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens living in this country and urged all American citizens to contact their Senators about this.
Sen. Sessions said, “The President has taken it upon himself to decide who can enter the U.S. and who can work in the U.S.—by the millions—regardless of what laws have been passed… My message to the American people today is this: you can stop this. We can stop this. We will not let this stand. And that fight begins with a vote on the House-passed bill to block this new executive action. The Senate cannot be allowed to surrender to the President’s lawlessness. I am calling today on every Senator to support this bill, and to demand Majority Leader Reid call it up for a vote…”
Sen. Sessions continued, “And to every member of the public, red state or blue state or purple state, call your Senator and ask them where they stand. Ask them if they support the House bill to block executive amnesty and if they will demand it receive a vote. You are a citizen of this country and you are entitled to a clear answer to this question.” “The immigration policies of President Obama are having a devastating effect on the classical American goal of a fair, lawful system of immigration that serves the national interests. He has directed federal immigration officers not to enforce plain law. He meets privately with pro-amnesty, open borders groups, and special interest business groups and promises to take even more action to erase law.”
Sen. Sessions said, “Now, the heretofore largely covert actions by the President are open and blatant. He has told the world that with a stroke of his pen, he will, by presidential directive, by executive action, provide legal status to 5 to 6 million persons unlawfully present in the United States. All this contrary to long-established law. But, there is more. He has said that he will issue them photo identification cards with, astoundingly, work authorization permits.” Surely we know that the President cannot make law. Congress makes law. As chief executive, the President executes, carries out, and enforces law. This we learn in grade school. This constitutional construct is not a small matter. It is the mechanism by which this nation conducts its governmental business. Through this method, the people control their government. Allowing any president to nullify law is a threat to the future of our Republic and the power of the people.”
Sen. Sessions urged President Obama to reconsider his Executive amnesty and to adhere to his own statements, stating that he did not have the power to do what he is now contemplating.
Sen. Sessions said, “Surely it’s not a matter of debate, among Democrat or Republican, that the President cannot make law or nullify law. He just cannot. Thus, we must in unity call on President Obama not to go through with his stated desire to eviscerate long and duly established American immigration law. What law might the next president ignore, bend, or nullify?” “We must avoid the turmoil and acrimony that such lawless executive action will bring. The nation must not add another bitter controversy to the ones existing.”
Sen. Sessions said, “According to repeated and multiple news reports, these executive actions could provide administrative “legal” papers and work permits to up to 5–6 million illegal immigrants—in clear contravention of federal law. If these actions are taken, we will have effectively opened the borders of America. We are nearly there already.”
Sen. Sessions said, “Consider: Millions of people come to America every year on visas. Currently, if you overstay a visa, there is no legal consequence. No one is coming to get you. If you get a student visa and drop out, or you come on a work visa and it expires, or you just come on a tourist visa and never leave, you are allowed to stay. And the Congressional Budget Office said in analyzing the Gang Of Eight bill that came through the Senate, that as much as 40 percent of the illegality in America today is the result of visa overstays. They also projected that that was going to increase in the years to come. If you get past Border Patrol and settle in the interior of the country, you are also allowed to stay. As the President’s former ICE Director, John Sandgweg explained: ‘If you are a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting deported are close to zero.’ In order to be deported from the interior, you basically have to commit a serious criminal offense. Otherwise, you are mostly free to enter illegally, work illegally, and even collect benefits like the Additional Child Tax Credit.”
Sen. Sessions said, “If you show up at the border and simply turn yourself in, you are often released into the interior of the country. A recent article interviewed a 27-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras. The paper wrote that he had ‘arrived in Freehold Borough 15 days ago from Honduras.’ The article says he ‘left behind his parents and 10 brothers and sisters,’ but ‘he is hoping his family will join him in America at some point in the future.’ Once illegal immigrants have been released into the interior, they frequently do not show up for court hearings.”
Sen. Sessions continued, “Between 2000 and today, the U.S. government issued nearly 30 million lawful visas for individuals and their relatives to either live permanently in the U.S. or to come and take a job. Now consider what will happen to our system if the President goes through with his plan to provide work authorization to another 5 million people living illegally in the United States. What immigration law will be left? The government is not enforcing visa overstays, illegal entry, illegal work, or asylum fraud. And now the President is just going to start printing millions of work permits for people illegally in the country—after Congress loudly declared “NO”?”
Sen. Sessions said, “The President has taken it upon himself to decide who can enter the U.S. and who can work in the U.S.—by the millions—regardless of what laws have been passed. The President talks often of justice, but one of the gravest injustices that has been done is to deny the American people the protections of their own laws. But my message to the American people today is this: you can stop this. We can stop it together. We will not let this stand. And that fight begins with a vote on the House-passed bill to block this new executive action. The Senate cannot be allowed to surrender to the President’s lawlessness. It cannot. I am calling today on every Senator to support this bill, and to demand Majority Leader Reid call it up for a vote.”
U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Ranking Member of the Budget Committee. Sen. Sessions is up for re-election this year, but has no Republican or Democrat opponent.
