Speech #1140082638

In fact. the deferred action provides no such benefits. It is not a legal status. It is a deferral of deportation. It is revocable at any time. Here is what the memorandum establishing this said: "This memorandum confers no substantive right. immigration status or pathway to citizenship. Only an act of Congress can confer these rights. It remains within the authority of the executive branch. however. to set forth policy for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion and deferred action within the framework of existing law. This memoranda is an exercise of that authority." In fact. the exercise of that authority is nothing new. We have mentioned earlier that President Reagan deferred action on the deportation of the wives and children of those who got relief through the 1986 IRCA Act that Congress passed. despite the fact that Congress told him not to do it. because he had the authority to do it. We have also had instances where wives of American soldiers were going to be deported. Do you know what? The President gave them deferral from deportation because it was unconscionable to us that a soldier fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan would have his wife deported while he is over in the battlefield. We have private bills that we take up. egregious cases. Do you know what? If we ask for a report from the Department about that bill. the Department defers action on it. They defer deportation for the person who is the subject of that bill. We. on the committee. thank them for doing that. We know that they do that. and we agree and like that they do that. I mentioned earlier that the Congress. after Tiananmen Square. passed a bill to prevent the deportation of Chinese students who had been murdered. some of them. in Tiananmen Square. President Bush vetoed that bill. Why did he veto it? He vetoed it so he could give deferred deportation to the students because it was his positionand no one challenged thatit was the Presidents authority to do that. I want to raise another issue. My friend. the Chairman of the Rules Committee. mentioned earlier this morning that the House had received a request to brief this issue.