On Wednesday, after months of pushing for amnesty, Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) today wrote to President Obama urging him not to take executive action that would give work permits and green cards to millions of people who entered the United States illegally.
In their surprising letter, dated October 30, the senators, write to “strongly discourage” the President from following through on his “plan to sign, perhaps sometime after next Tuesday’s elections, an executive action that could give work permits and green cards to millions of people who entered the United States illegally.”
After years of ignoring the people who live along the border, which is extremely porous, the senators now argue that “no action should be taken to legalize undocumented immigrants who are living and working in the United States until we have properly secured our southern border and provided for effective enforcement of immigration laws. Moreover, the need to secure our southern border and effectively enforce the law has been underscored – not diminished – by recent developments at home and abroad of which you are well aware.”
The senators state that it is “not clear under what authority you would take such action, if you chose to do so. Taking executive action along the lines that have been reported would flaunt the separation of powers and our system of checks and balances, undermine the rule of law, and frustrate the proper administration of our current immigration system. Additionally, providing legal status by executive order to people who entered this country unlawfully will only incentivize illegal immigration and open the floodgates to more visa overstays and illegal entries over our southern border.”
According to the senators, “the issue of immigration is clearly one that must be debated and decided by the representatives of the people. Congress must fulfill its obligations under the Constitution and address this issue.”
The senators advise the President that if he acts unilaterally they will have a hard time selling amnesty. “Mr. President, we urge you to work with Congress to secure our borders and address the serious issues facing America’s immigration system. Unilateral action by the executive branch on this issue would be detrimental to finding and enacting much-needed long-term policy and legislative solutions to our broken immigration system.”
The senators warn the President that unilateral action “by executive order on an issue of this magnitude would be the most divisive action you could take.”