Arizona Majority Leader-elect Steve Montenegro, who immigrated to the U.S. with his family at the age of 4 from El Salvador said, “President Obama’s remarks Thursday on immigration ignore the constitutional separation of powers. His responsibility is to faithfully execute the laws of our country, not to suspend them by executive fiat.”
“Ultimately, the President’s actions hurt our immigration system. Playing with people’s emotions for political gain is wrong. These actions reward people who broke the law, and ignore those who abide by it,” continued Montenegro.
“The Obama administration’s lawless approach to immigration takes this country in a direction that it has never gone before. The creation of such broad exemptions for millions of people is constitutionally in the hands of Congress,” concluded Montenegro.
Congressman Paul Gosar says he plans to fight back against the “unconstitutional amnesty.” Gosar says that Congress must “immediately pass a short-term spending bill defunding Obama’s unlawful executive order. Pass H. Res. 757 authorizing the House to sue the president for actions violating the Constitution, and prohibit funds from being made available to provide work permits and green cards to illegal aliens.”
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who is on the front lines of the cartel drug corridor that runs from Mexico into the U.S. said, “The rule of law requires consequences for law breakers, which act as a deterrent and also serve as justice in our legal system. The law applies to you and I as citizens, but yet the President waves the laws to violators of foreign countries. The President has now grabbed further power that he originally stated that would only be reserved for an emperor. Congress should act immediately to provide a solution to secure the border and compel the President to enforce all of our laws.”
Senator Jeff Flake issued a statement regarding what he called President Barack Obama’s decision to bypass Congress. “As someone who supports broad reform to our immigration system, I’m very disappointed with the action the president is taking. It certainly doesn’t seem like the right way to work with a new Congress.”
Open borders advocate, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva said, “I am proud of President Obama for standing by his word, and standing with immigrant communities tonight. The actions he announced will provide relief for millions of people who want nothing more than to be our fellow citizens and contribute to our society. The President’s actions are not all-encompassing – they are a strong starting point with clear opportunities to build from. This country was built on the hopes and dreams of people coming here in search of a better life and President Obama has proven he is dedicated to making this dream a reality for millions more.
Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer noted in a statement that, “President Obama rightly acknowledged that his role as president under the Constitution is to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ Publically and repeatedly he has rejected the suggestion of bypassing Congress to impose a de facto amnesty via executive order.”
“Now, rather than work with Congress on a bipartisan solution to fix our immigration system and secure the border, he is once again taking brazen, unilateral action that will only further exacerbate the border problem – just as he did in 2012 when he signed an executive order to provide an amnesty to almost two million illegal aliens through his ‘Deferred Action’ plan,” stated Brewer.
“This is not a partisan issue. When the bluest of blue states – like Oregon, for example – vote overwhelmingly to prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining drivers licenses, it speaks volumes about the widespread lack of support for President Obama’s immigration policies,” continued Brewer. “The American people have spoken, and time and again they have been ignored.”