Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has released a statement in response to the Obama White House decision to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.
"The Obama administration cannot get its amnesty schemes through Congress, so now it has resorted to implementing its plans via executive fiat. There's simply no other description for today?s announcement that the federal government will not pursue the deportation of individuals who are in the country illegally but meet certain criteria.
“This plan amounts to backdoor amnesty for hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of illegal aliens. Especially disturbing is that it comes in the wake of the Obama administration sanctioning the sale of weapons to Mexican drug cartels – even as border states such as Arizona come under threat from those same illicit organizations. With this announcement, the President is encouraging more illegal immigration at the exact moment we need federal focus on border security.
“Just last month in speaking to the National Council of La Raza, President Obama rejected the idea of bypassing Congress and imposing immigration reform. He said, „Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. And believe me, right now dealing with Congress, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting ... But that's not how our system works. That?s not how our democracy functions. That's not how our Constitution is written.
“President Obama got it right last month and got it really wrong today.
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Rep. Pete King, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security isn't impressed either:
“This new non-enforcement policy announced by the Obama Administration Thursday is a blatant attempt to grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal aliens in this country, and is totally unacceptable.
“In reality, this decision to vastly expand the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ in enforcing our federal immigration laws means that the Administration will now be, in a huge number of cases, simply ignoring those laws.
“The President and members of his Administration must enforce this nation’s laws, just as they have sworn in their oaths of office to do.
“On July 25, in a speech to the National Council of La Raza, the President himself said, ‘I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own…but that’s not how our system works…That’s not how our democracy functions. That’s not how our Constitution is written.’ Apparently the President’s understanding of how our system of government works has changed since last month.”
“Over the next 15 months, I'm certain we'll hear a lot of talk from the Obama administration about its concern for border security. Those of us who truly care about the rule of law will remember the President?s actions of today. We need to remind President Obama that we elected a president that serves beneath the law and did not anoint a king that is above the law.”
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