Speech #1140006667

Otherwise. he wouldnt need to take this kind of action. Otherwise. he could do it through the peoples duly elected representatives who have been put in office specifically for the purpose of making law through this open. deliberative. transparent process. This is certainly what we have seen in the aftermath of the Presidents Executive order on immigration. The more the people discover about the content and about the consequences of his policy. the less they like it. For instance. the President claimed that his Executive order would honor the golden rule of American exceptionalism: If you work hard and play by the rules. you can get ahead. We now know his plan subverts this very basic fundamental bargain by paving a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who have broken the rules and violated the law. and by granting them work permits and benefits such as Social Security and Medicare. Likewise. we were told the Presidents Executive order would make our immigration system more fair and more functional. more accessible for everyone. But we now know his plan will only exacerbate the problems in our labor market for American workers by giving more power and more money to the dysfunctional U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. or USCIS. This is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that was recently reported to have given over 900.000 work permits to illegal immigrants since 2009. We know that unless we do something to stop it. unless we do something to reach back and take back our constitutional privilege. our institutional privilege as the lawmaking branch of the Federal Government. the Presidents Executive order will go into effect at a time when all net job growth in our economy since 2007 has gone to immigrants. These are the kinds of facts and figures that ought to inform the legislative process and ought to not be treated as some sort of afterthought. These are not. coincidentally. exactly the kinds of observations. the kinds of facts and figures. the kinds of details that could have been and should have been and. undoubtedly. inevitably would have been explored had this policy been implemented through the constitutionally prescribed formula.