Speech #1130121352

The Constitution is designed so that when we change law. we do that in a fairly cumbersome way. but that has served our country pretty well for a long time. and it is not up to the President to decide that can be suspended on a topic he thinks is important and a topic he in fact has previously said he couldnt do on his own. As he was talking about this the last several months. not just Republicans but Republicans and Democratsand I will admit particularly Democrats in close races around the countrysaid the President was overstepping his authority. the President is putting people in jeopardy of not knowing whether they are here on some kind of basis that nobody has quite defined or quite understands even after he acts. Recently. a union representing thousands of Federal immigration officers raised an alarm that the U.S. Government had ordered supplies to create millions of blank work permits and green cards. According to reports following that union report. the new Federal contract proposal for Homeland Security would allow the government to buy enough supplies to make as many as 34 million immigrant work permits and residency cards over the next 5 years. We issue immigrant work permits all the time but not at the level that is being talked about here. Nobody has contended. by the way. that we just got a particularly good opportunity to buy a lot of card stock. I havent heard that given as the reason. So these people who work with that every day are saying: What is going on here? The President of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Councilthe union representing 12.000 immigration service agentscalled reports about planned Executive action dangerous. people who deal with this every dayhis wordssaid it would increase exponentially the health risks. the threats to national security. and expense to taxpayers that he said are on the rise because of lax enforcement of immigration laws already. Article II. section 3 of the Constitution declares that the President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Simply put. these constitutional requirements are just that. They are requirements the President shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed. to execute the acts of the Congress. to enforce the law as written.