By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, July 27, 2016, US Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) issued a statement on what he called the Obama Administration’s unprecedented creation of an extra-legal chain migration system.
Senator Sessions wrote: “The Obama Administration announced plans yesterday to expand an already unlawful program by setting up an extra-legal chain migration system for certain immigrants in the US – including illegal aliens. The Immigration and Nationality Act sets forth very specific requirements and procedures through which family members may immigrate to this country, and many thousands abide by those laws and wait in line every year to do so. Now, with the stroke of a pen, the Obama Administration intends to circumvent statutory law at the behest of the open-borders lobbyists and extremists within the Democratic Party.”
Sen. Sessions warned, “This will only encourage more lawlessness, exacerbate the current situation at our border, and erode public confidence in the integrity of our immigration system. So, too, will irresponsible calls for universal amnesty undermine the system’s proper operation.”
Senator Sessions said, “What is needed now, more than ever, is strong, decisive leadership and a commitment to the execution of the laws on the books to convey the clear message to the world that if you come to the US illegally, you will be removed.”
On Tuesday, July 26, the Obama Administration announced plans to expand its “Central American Minors Refugee/Parole Program,” which was created after the so-called “border surge” in the summer of 2014. The program allows certain alien parents in the US, including those with no lawful immigration status but who are considered to have “lawful presence” based on some form of executive amnesty, i.e., TPS and DACA, to apply to have their children in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras brought to the US.
According to US Customs and Border Protection, 43,280 illegal alien juveniles have been apprehended at the southwest border through June – a 62 percent increase over the same period last year, and a number surpassed only by the record number apprehended in FY 2014. Since the beginning of FY 2014, roughly 152,000 illegal alien juveniles have been apprehended, yet only a small fraction have been removed from the US.
Under the administration’s new plan, not only would minor children be permitted to come to the US, but also the following individuals: Other sons and daughters of the parent in the US who are over 21 years old; the in-country biological parent of the qualified child – no marriage to the parent in the US is required; and ‘Caregivers” of qualified children who are also related to the US-based lawfully present parents.
Sen. Sessions wrote that, “The program in its original form already flies in the face of historical policy and understanding and undermines the very logic and coherence of the entire immigration system. Expanding it to create a new avenue of chain migration for illegal aliens – one not even available to citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents – cannot withstand scrutiny. Indeed, under our immigration system, US citizens cannot petition for their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, or nephews to come to the US based solely on the existence of a familial relationship. Yet, under this plan, so long as they accompany a qualifying child from El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras, the Obama Administration will allow illegal aliens to bring their extended family members into the US.”
On Sunday, July 31 Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton stood by President Obama’s policies on immigration. Former Secretary of State Clinton told ‘Fox News Sunday’, “When it comes to immigration, I believe strongly that comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship is not only good for people living under the shadow of deportation, it’s good for the economy. So I think this is on the must-do list.” Clinton said that if Congress failed to pass her immigration reform package that she would continue President Obama’s executive actions on immigration and reminded interviewer Chris Wallace that she will get to appoint the next Supreme Court Justice, if elected.
Sen. Jeff Sessions is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest and has been a vocal critic of President Obama’s policies on border protection and immigration. Sessions helped Republican nominee Donald Trump prepare his immigration and border enforcement plan.
(Original reporting by Fox News and CNS News contributed to this report)
