Speech #1140011274

I am happy to respond to the point made by the Senator from Illinois. The point is that the Presidents 2014 Executive order goes far beyond those who would "age out." in his words. it adds entirely new categories of people. In fact. the estimates are that some 5 million undocumented individuals would be covered by the 2014 Executive order. Should the President unilaterally be allowed to make that kind of Executive order. that kind of change in our immigration law? The court has said no. and I believe the court is right about that. In fact. when these criteria were issued in 2012. the Senator from Illinois said in a press release as recently as June of last year. before the November Executive order. that this was a smart and lawful approach. So the answer is. how do you draw the line. and what is the appropriate role of the executive branch visavis the legislative branch? And I say that as someone who believes and hopes that later this year we will take up a comprehensive immigration bill. and I hope to be able to support it again. But this is an issue of what is the proper role of Congress visavis the President under our constitutional system. And I was not surprised when the Texas court kept the 2012 Executive order but blocked the 2014 Executive order.