Ten
immigration agents say President Obama's bid to block deportation of some young
illegal immigrants in a 'DREAM Act lite' is unconstitutional, and they are
challenging it in court.
Ten federal immigration officials filed suit on Thursday
asking a US district judge in Dallas to block the Homeland Security Department
from implementing President Obama’s decision
to give special immigration status to some
1.7 million children of illegal immigrants.
The suit charges that
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and
a key immigration official are engaging in an illegal and unconstitutional
usurpation of government power by implementing an administrative version of the
DREAM Act without congressional authorization.
It says the agency
action is forcing immigration agents in the
field to either enforce federal law as passed
by Congress or abide by the administration’s new immigration policies and
priorities.
“We are federal law enforcement officers who
are being ordered to break the law,” said one of the plaintiffs, Chris Crane, a deportation officer in Utah, and president of the immigration agents’
union.
Ms. Napolitano issued
an agency directive on June 15 instructing immigration officials to use their “prosecutorial discretion” to confer special
immigration status to the children of illegal immigrants. The program took full
effect on August 15 and drew thousands of initial applicants.
The DREAM Act is a
legislative proposal designed to lift the cloud of deportation over children
who were brought to the US before they were 16, have been in the country for
five years, and have no criminal record. The DREAM Act has been debated 24
times since 2001 but has never passed Congress.
Earlier this year,
Mr. Obama declared that his administration would take action on its own to
implement the goals of the DREAM Act without relying on legislation from
Congress.
Critics denounced the move as an
unconstitutional power grab designed to appeal to potential Latino voters in a
critical presidential election year.
Supporters said the
executive branch of government has ample discretionary authority to implement
DREAM Act goals. The effort is consistent with the administration’s policy of
focusing enforcement and deportations on illegal immigrants who commit serious
crime, officials say.
Thursday’s lawsuit
essentially asks a federal judge to resolve the debate.
“This is an
absolutely breathtaking assertion of authority,” said lawyer Kris Kobach, who is representing the 10
immigration officers.
“The administration
can’t do this by fiat,” he said.
Mr. Kobach is
secretary of state in Kansas and is an informal
adviser to Mitt Romney, the Republican
presidential candidate. He was a delegate to the Republican Party’s platform
committee in advance of the GOP’s national convention in Tampa, Fla., next week.
Kobach is the same
lawyer who helped Arizona officials draft
their tough and controversial immigration enforcement law, Senate Bill 1070. In June,
the US Supreme Court struck down
three provisions of that law, but upheld the measure’s centerpiece, requiring
state and local law-enforcement officials to check the immigration status of
anyone detained during a lawful stop who they had reason to suspect was in the
US illegally.
The lawsuit against
Napolitano asks a federal judge to examine whether the agency’s actions violate
federal law by directing agents to ignore the command in immigration statutes
that agents “shall” place illegal immigrants into removal proceedings.
A memorandum by John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
asserts that under “prosecutorial discretion” agents no longer are required to
follow the procedures in the immigration statute. The lawsuit says there is
nothing under federal law authorizing an agency to ignore or rewrite the
statute’s requirements.
The suit also charges
that there is nothing in federal immigration law that permits an executive
branch official to use regulatory discretion to grant a benefit to 1.7 million
individuals.
The Homeland Security
Department also lacks the unilateral authority to grant 1.7 million
undocumented individuals authorization to work in the US, the suit says.
Finally, the suit
charges that conferring legal rights and privileges to a large group is a
legislative act assigned to Congress under the Constitution. The suit says the
administration’s actions violate the constitutional command that the executive
branch of government “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Mr. Crane of Utah
said the administration’s new policy toward the children of illegal immigrants is causing problems for
enforcement agents.
He cited the case of
an agent in Delaware who apprehended an illegal immigrant who had 10 traffic violations
including driving without a license. Such an individual would routinely be
placed in removal proceedings, Crane said.
But after the
directives from Washington, he said,
management-level officials are enforcing a broad reading of the agency’s
“prosecutorial discretion.”
When the arresting
agent insisted on processing the individual, he was threatened with a three-day
suspension, Crane said. Now any subsequent action by the same agent might
result in his being fired, he said.
Crane cited a similar
incident in El Paso, Texas, where enforcement agents were ordered to
release an illegal immigrant who has allegedly attempted to escape and
allegedly assaulted one of the officers.
Rather than
investigate the agents’ accusations, immigration
managers ordered the man released because they said he fit the profile of an
individual qualified for special status under the new program.
“We are not enforcing
law anymore and we aren’t even enforcing the policy,” Crane said.
“When we come in
contact with someone who claims to be a ‘DREAMer,’ we have to accept that claim
and the alien has no burden of proof to substantiate that claim,” he said.
Of the 10 agents who
filed the lawsuit, seven are posted in Texas, one is in California, one in Delaware, and one in Utah. Two
of the immigration agents are deportation officers and eight are enforcement
officers.
*
WHEN
YOU FACTOR IN THE COST OF OBAMA’S OPEN BORDERS, SABOTAGE OF E-VERIFY TO EASE
MORE ILLEGALS INTO OUR JOBS, WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS, AND VARIOUS DREAM ACTS, THE
REAL COST OF THE MEX INVASION IS STAGGERING!
The
High Price of Obama’s Amnesty $585
That is the estimate of what Obama’s new amnesty
will cost the American taxpayer. This back door plan, put into action by
imperial edict without any input from Congress, is just another nail in the
coffin of our economy. This past week thousands of children of illegal
immigrants were granted the right to apply for “deferred action” in order to
stay in this country and sign up for employment opportunities. Starting
August 15th, illegal aliens up to the age of 30 who meet certain
requirements can begin submitting their applications that will allow them to
remain in the country for a period of two years, with indefinite
renewals. They may also apply for work authorization, adding an estimated
2 million job-seekers to the workforce when we have record unemployment.
Take a look at Immigrationreform.com and read
the ten things that you need to
know about Obama’s amnestyand it will make your head spin.
Really? How does Congress allow this to
happen? They just ignore this issue and sweep it under the rug hoping
that the American people are on summer vacation and won’t notice that we have
just opened wide the doors to 2 million illegal’s! Once again they let
this President steam roll over them. It seems like they have forgotten
that the Dream Act was defeated as recently as 2010.
What are the unintended consequences of this
amnesty? Well, let’s see. Not only will it cost the American
taxpayers an (estimated) $585 million dollars just to implement the program,
but on top of that there are millions or perhaps billions more. Once they
become permanent legal residents the floodgates open. Medicare, Social
Security, food stamps, education, not to mention the earned income tax credit
that would cost tens of billions annually. This will also encourage even
more illegal immigration when others figure out how to work the system.
This also opens the door to rampant fraud.
When an applicant goes online for the form there are no safeguards in place to
prevent fraud even to satisfy this administration’s low standards of
eligibility. In fact, the application explicitly states
that “you do not need to submit original documents unless the USCIS requests
them.” Under Obama’s guidance, do you think they will ever be requested?
What about the millions of immigrants who have
gone about applying for citizenship the right way? How do they feel when
they have been pushed to the back of the line because of this irresponsible
act? And as for the Hispanic and Black Americans, do you think they are
happy knowing that Obama’s job killing policies have hurt their
communities? The unemployment rate for
Hispanics is 3 percent higher
than the national average hovering around 11 percent. In the Black
community the unemployment rate for Black
youth is a staggering 40.5%
as of March 2012. This new policy will not only take jobs away from them, but
also from the millions of other Americans hoping to find work in a diminished
economy.
This is illegal in so many ways yet Congress
chooses not to recognize it. Is it because they are afraid to touch the
forbidden area of immigration? Do they think they will be accused of
being racists? Well, I have news, they’ve already been accused of it so
it’s time to get over it and stand up for what is right for this country and
the American people.
We can’t afford this. We are faltering
under a national debt that could reach as high as 40 trillion dollars within a
decade and illegal immigration is a big part of that number. The money has to
come from somewhere. Since Congress didn’t pass this legislation and did not
appropriate funds for it, where will the money come from? Tax dollars
alone will not pay for all of it, so the cost will be satisfied by illegally
raiding other programs. Veterans hospitals or border control stations
that monitor drug trafficking could be the victims. Who knows what else
might be raided?
At least Governor Jan Brewer is
stepping up to the plate. She signed an executive order to stop
public benefits for these young illegal aliens. She gets it; she knows
what the costs will be to her state.
We need
to fix the immigration problem, not add to it. Everyone knows that Obama
only did this to gain Hispanic support in the upcoming election. It is
transparent pandering and everyone can see right through it. (Pardon the pun.) If he
really wanted to do this, why did he wait until now? He had both houses
of Congress and complete power at the beginning of his term yet he said that he
couldn’t do it without Congressional authority. Funny how things change
when desperation sets in and he needs every special interest group he can grab
to be re-elected.
Unfortunately he loses in the long run because
the majority of the American people see what the costs of this massive amnesty
program are. They see their own families struggling while law breakers
are reaping the benefits. Immigrants who have gone through the process
the right way are fighting mad about this and rightly so. They see now
that it would have been easier to stay illegal and reap the rewards.
I am not a racist. Neither are most
Americans. We understand that people want a better life. All we are
asking for the privilege of living in this great country is that you come here
“legally”, abide by the rules, and start off your new life the right way.
Don’t burden us with uncontrollable costs that bring down the standard of living
in America. Become one of us, work hard and contribute to the greatness
of this country. If it is done the right way, the legal way, American
citizenship is valued much more.
Morgan Brittany
Politichicks.tv
*
California spending annually $22 billion to support illegals
Going To the Top!
By Susan Tully
I've been at the immigration reform and enforcement
table for about 20 years. I've worked with activists during all those years.
But last week, in Los Angeles, I had a first-time-ever experience at an
activist brain storming session.
Gathered for an update on Stop AB131, the petition
drive to gather signatures to force a ballot initiative as to whether the
California taxpayers should fund college grants to illegal aliens, I asked the
top activist leaders from Southern California how the signature drive was
going.
They started updating me with the positive response
from California residents who signed the petitions, but then admitted about 500,000
more signatures were still needed. When I said there was only a little more
than three weeks to go to meet the January 5th deadline, suddenly their faces
dropped at once, and the room went completely silent.
It was easy to read on each of their faces; the
task was nearly impossible! Without big money to pay signature gatherers or a
tsunami of petitions flooding in, the taxpayers of California will be forced to
give grant money to illegal aliens for college, on top of the $22 billion they
are spending annually in California to support the illegal alien population.
While all of our minds were racing and searching
for suggestions as to how to accomplish this daunting task of gathering
signatures, Lupe Moreno, long time Hispanic leader from Santa Ana, said
"Can we have a prayer?" Everyone agreed to pray.
As the prayer went around the table, people
expressed their sorrow for the lack of leadership in the State of California
and in the nation to protect the interest of American citizens, and asked for
divine guidance in helping them understand the harm their policies are
inflicting on millions of innocent people in the state. In all the years I have
worked on this issue, I had not witnessed the sort of sincere emotion that was
expressed in that room.
(THE FASTEST GROWING POLITICAL PARTY
IN AMERICA IS THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA! AND WE ARE FORCED TO FUND
IT!)
You see, the
politicians in California are happy to give money the state doesn't have to
illegal aliens to attend college, while they cut the budgets and slash programs
for public safety, right and left. The American citizen's interests and safety
are simply collateral damage for seeking and appealing to the illegal alien
lobby.
These activists in California have already learned
what the rest of the nation is about to learn. We the people. . . are the only
ones looking out for the best interest of American citizens. With few
exceptions, we have no national leadership on the issue of stopping the illegal
migration flow into our nation.
American citizenship or the benefits thereof have
become a commodity for politicians to pander and barter away. They will grant
de facto citizenship through sanctuary policies, in-state tuition,
non-compliance with Secure Communities, grants for college, etc., etc., etc.
President Obama and most the Republican presidential hopefuls are peddling
various versions of amnesty proposals if they are elected next year.
What do these politicians want in return? They are
hoping to leverage enough votes in key states to put them over the top in 2012,
no matter what it costs the American people. This is futures betting: The
politicians are gambling the nation's future in hopes of winning the next
election.
So while the
state can't afford to pay its bills or provide decent services to citizens,
these California activists watch their elected leaders lavish still more
benefits for people who don't have a legal right to be in the country. And
while their child might have to pay out-of-state tuition to go to college in
another state, thousands of illegal aliens are going to college at in-state
tuition rates in California that they are subsidizing.
In addition
they know that millions of other illegal alien parents are receiving food
stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance and dozens of other state and local
benefits for their American-born children, while they have to decide which
bills will be paid this month and which will have to wait.
It's not hard to understand why the activist of
California need all the help they can get. Please go to www.stopAB131.com and
lend a hand to our friends and family and the people of California to do what
needs to be done for the good of our children first.