Dem Rep: ‘Someday, There Might Be More People Here Illegally Than Legally’

Tuesday on the House floor, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) criticized Republicans on a day he declared we should be “celebrating” President Barack Obama’s amnesty for putting off passage of so-called immigration reform legislation.

“We should be celebrating today the start of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals expansion and the Deferred Action for Parents of American Citizens program that President Obama launched in light of the continued failure of this Congress to finally fix our broken immigration system,” Polis said. “This Congress hasn’t brought forth a single immigration bill, not secured our border, not ensured that employers follow our law and only employ legal American workers; but, rather, at every opportunity, it has sought to thwart the executive branch, doing what they can with the powers they have under our U.S. Constitution to restore the rule of law without the help of this body.”

“I hope that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program’s expansion, known as DACA—already a great success with additional success along the way with the new expansion—and the Deferred Action for Parents of American Citizens program, or DAPA, are soon unclogged by the courts to at least reduce the size of this sometimes insurmountable problem that Congress continues to refuse to tackle,” he continued.

He added, “That is the alternative. If Congress continues to bring up three bills every week and if none of them are about border security and none of them are about immigration, do you know what? Instead of there being 10 million people here illegally, there are going to be 15 or 20 million here in 10 years. That is exactly where this Republican Congress is leading us—towards an America where, someday, there might be more people here illegally than there are here legally. Think about that, Mr. Speaker.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN