Mitt Romney
has recently stated
his suspicion that President Obama will soon take executive action and order
amnesty for illegal immigrants. Governor Romney is not the only one with this
suspicion. Republican Senators John McCain, Marco Rubio, and Lindsey Graham have
recently warned
President Obama not to take executive action by granting amnesty, citing border
safety and terrorist concerns.
The
Constitution grants authority to Congress when it comes to naturalization and
immigration. Article
I, Section 8 grants Congress the power “[t]o establish a uniform rule of
naturalization.” There is nothing in Article II
of the Constitution which grants the President any power when it comes to creating
immigration policy. It is merely the duty of the executive to enforce laws that
are constitutionally enacted by Congress. The President “shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed.”
The most
recent immigration act which included any kind of amnesty for illegal aliens
was the Immigration
Reform and Control Act of 1986. This law was passed by the Senate on
September 19, 1985, passed by the House of Representatives on October 9, 1986,
and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986. This law
legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1,
1982, could prove they were not guilty of any crimes, and were willing to pay a
fine and any back taxes.
The text of
the Constitution and this legislative precedent demonstrate beyond any doubt that
it would be blatantly unconstitutional for President Obama to use an Executive Order
or any other executive action to unilaterally grant amnesty to illegal aliens.
(For a much
more detailed discussion of Constitution and the enumerated powers of the
federal government on issues such as immigration, read my new book The Real Culture War: Individualism
vs. Collectivism & How Bill O’Reilly Got It All Wrong. Available
now on Amazon
in both print
and Kindle.)
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