Deportation Exemption for Immigrant Aliens

Floor Speech

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, like many Americans, I was taken aback by the Administration's announcement last week that it would decline to enforce the law when it comes to the deportation of illegal aliens who were brought to our Nation as young children.

I believe that the president is wrong on this issue--as wrong as he can be.
We are a Nation of immigrants. We take pride in our immigrant roots. Southern West Virginia has a proud history of immigrant families and workers who migrated to the coal fields to live and work.

For every immigrant who came to this country legally, abiding by the process and respecting the law, this action is a slap in the face. For the immigration and border security officers, who are working and risking their lives to enforce the law, this announcement is a slap in the face. For the American workers who will be forced to compete for American jobs against immigrant aliens, this announcement is a slap in the face.

I share the frustration of many Americans in the stubborn refusal of the House Republican Majority in not taking action on critical legislation--a long-term surface transportation, budget and appropriations bills, and a host of expiring laws that run the gamut from tax breaks, to Medicare payments to our hospitals and health providers, to critical government programs; all of which are undermining confidence in the Congress as an institution and acting as deadweight on job creation and growth. To some extent, one could even argue the Congress has invited this executive action by refusing to act to strengthen our Nation's borders and immigration enforcement.

But, a chief executive's decision, to bypass the Congress and refuse to implement the law, is unacceptable. It may make for good politics in some quarters of our Nation, but it sets a terrible and dangerous precedent.

The Constitution requires the president to enforce the law. It authorizes the president to recommend changes to the law. It does not--does not--permit the president to selectively choose which laws to enforce.

The Congress must disabuse the president and every future president of the notion that laws with which the executive branch disagrees can be ignored. More important than party, and more important than presidential politics, must be the upholding of the Constitution and seeing to it that the laws are faithfully executed.

Source