Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions slammed Senate Democrats for failing to push back against President Obama’s plans for executive actions on immigration — especially in light of reports of what the actions will look like.
Recent reports have said that the White House could move to enact unilateral legalization and work authorizations for some 5 million undocumented immigrants and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest indicated Monday the White House could make an announcement about the executive action at the end of the summer.
“As a result of this executive amnesty, millions here illegally will be able to compete for any job in America–taking jobs needed by American worker,” Sessions said in a Wednesday statement.
“We further know that these executive actions will likely also include a massive importation of new foreign workers–on top of the large existing flow–to take even more jobs in the United States,” he added. “The result would be disastrous for struggling workers–coming on the heels of four decades of continued record immigration into the U.S., coinciding with falling wages and a shrinking middle class.”
According to Sessions, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the fact that Earnest implied that Obama will be moving forward with the executive actions at the end of summer and the “silence” from Senate Democrats has been “astounding.”
“The second astounding event was silence. The roaring silence from Senate Democrats in the face of a clear and present danger facing their constituents,” he said. “They have refused to support the House-passed legislation to block the President’s executive actions, surrendering the Senate and their citizen constituents to an unconstitutional scheme to nullify America’s sovereign laws and sovereign borders.”
Sessions added that given what immigration law enforcement officials — such as ICE officers’ union head Chris Crane and the union representing USCIS agents Ken Palinkas — have revealed about the lack enforcement of the law already, more executive actions from Obama would serve to end interior enforcement all together.
“If implemented, the President’s new executive actions would functionally end what little remains of interior immigration enforcement, giving free license to every person in the world–here today or planning to come tomorrow–to violate our immigration laws with impunity,” he said.
“But the citizens of this country retain the ultimate power, as they always have,” he continued. “They will not let this stand. They will demand a Senate vote on the House bill to stop this executive amnesty. And they will hold accountable any and all in Congress who fail to resist the President’s lawless decree.”
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