Speech #1130113960

Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5272 prohibits Federal funding or resources from being used to adjudicate any application for the Presidents Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. or DACA. program. and it prohibits the President from issuing employment authorization documents to unlawful immigrants in the United States. This bill differs from the bill the House was set to consider yesterday in that it prohibits funds from being used for adjudication. The prior version of this bill was a simple prohibition on the Presidents actions. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez. the Presidents Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has already allowed over 714.000 unlawful immigrants. who claimed to have arrived as minors. to remain in the United States and seek employment. DACA is a major reason for the unprecedented influx of minors and family units along our southern borders. This deferred action program was announced by the President and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on June 15. 2012. It is a usurpation of the plenary authority over immigration law that article I. section 8. clause 4 of the United States Constitution confers on the legislative branch. And the President knows that it is a usurpation of congressional authority. In fact. in March of 2011. he stated: "With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order. thats just not the case. because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed. The executive branchs job is to enforce and implement those laws. There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply. through executive order. ignore these congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President." Despite this admission. just over a year later. the President implemented the DACA program. And today it stands as a beacon for any unlawful immigrant to simply cross into the United States illegally because word has gotten out that they will be given permission to stay. I heard this again and again from unlawful immigrants in Border Patrol custody when I visited the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month. So lets be clear: the Presidents administrative policies abandoning immigration enforcement and his promises about future administrative legalizations continue to encourage unlawful immigrant parents to smuggle their children into the United States. These policies and promises put money directly into the pockets of human smuggling and drug cartels and put children at risk of perilous. illicit journeys to the United States. And they undermine the fundamental constitutional principles that Congress creates the laws and the President is bound to enforce them. H.R. 5272 sends the vitally important message that minors tempted to come here in the future will no longer be rewarded by a President who chooses to use his pen and cell phone to legislate. They will have absolutely no opportunity to receive DACA benefits. I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee for introducing the bill and urge my colleagues to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.