Speech #1130120202

Only a few years ago a prominent Democrat firmly and unequivocally rejected the idea that the President of the United States could singlehandedly enact an amnesty for millions of immigrants who entered the country without legal authorization. In 2011. for example. this same person reminded us that "there are laws on the books that Congress has passed" and that therefore it should not be permissible for the President to "suspend deportations through executive order." Then in 2013 this same individual noted that granting a unilateral amnesty for adults who came to the United States illegally was "not an option" because it would amount to "ignoring the law." A few months later this same individual was speaking at an immigration event and was interrupted by a heckler who urged him to stop the deportations by Executive fiat. In response. he said: If in fact I could solve all of these problems without passing laws in Congress. then I would do so. But we are also a nation of laws. That is part of our tradition. Of course. you might have guessed who that person was. It was President Barack Obama on numerous different occasions in the past few years saying he did not have the authority to issue a unilateral Executive order granting. in effect. a right to waive the law with regard to illegal immigration. I have to say that our President has a preternatural ability to say one thing and then do anotherthe opposite. Now the President is threatening to authorize exactly the type of action he previously said he did not have the authority to order. and he is threatening to do so even after his goitalone approach on immigration and so many other issues was so roundly repudiated in this most recent election on November 4. In other words. he is showing contempt for the Constitution. for the voters. and basically anyone who disagrees with him. It is the classic "my way or the highway" approach. According to press reports. he will act as early as this week and he will unilaterally grant work permits. Under what authorityI have no idea how he can legislate authority to grant work permits for people who illegally entered the country. but he said. apparently. he is going to try. These are the kinds of maneuvers we would expect to see from tinpot dictators and banana republics. not from the Commander in Chief and the Chief Executive of the worlds greatest democracy. Apparently the President now thinks that he and.