| | |||||||
| May 26, 2015
Mr.
Dear Mr.
Thank you for contacting me about President Obama's efforts to unconstitutionally and illegally grant amnesty and work permits to illegal aliens via executive orders. Your input is vital to my representing your views in Congress.
In 2011, when open borders and amnesty groups pressed President Obama to grant executive amnesty, President Obama replied, "Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting, ... not just on immigration reform, but that's not how — that's not how our system works. That's not how our democracy functions. That's not how our Constitution is written." President Obama has publicly stated at least 22 times that a president lacks legal authority to grant executive amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Yet Obama did it anyway.
In response to President Obama's executive amnesty, in January 2015, I introduced H.Res. 11 to authorize the House of Representatives to seek a declaratory judgment action in federal court to determine whether President Obama's amnesty executive order violates the Constitution and federal immigration law and, if so, to obtain injunctive relief and a writ of mandamus to compel President Obama and the Executive Branch to obey immigration laws as passed by Congress, signed into law by presidents, and interpreted by federal judges. So far, over 50 of my colleagues have co-sponsored this legislation.
I believe a declaratory judgment action in federal court is our only viable option for stopping illegal executive amnesty absent a government shutdown. Why? The Constitution and math. President Obama will veto any law that defunds illegal amnesty. The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. America lacks enough Senators and Congressmen with the intellect and backbone required to provide the two-thirds vote (290 Congressmen and 67 Senators) needed to override a presidential veto.
I will continue to do what I can to rein in a President who encourages and entices illegal aliens to violate America's border security and immigration laws. Hopefully, American voters will wise up and give us in Congress the votes we need to be successful in our efforts. Better yet, hopefully American voters in 2016 will elect a President who believes in obeying our laws and securing America's borders. That is the real key to lasting success.
Just as a president (Obama) can issue an executive amnesty order, a subsequent president can rescind the executive amnesty order with a stroke of a pen.
Again, thank you for sharing your insight on this issue. Please feel free to contact me again in the future. You may wish to visit my website at http://brooks.house.gov/ for additional information about issues and legislation before Congress.
Sincerely, Mo Brooks Member of Congress
MB/CM | |||||||
|
