Written statement: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Priorities and the Rule of Law

DavidRivkin.com ^ | 10/12/2011 | David Rivkin

[american_steve]

Immigration policy has been a much-debated issue, both at the national and state level, for a number of years now. The George W. Bush Administration tried, but failed, to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The Obama Administration, while talking much about the need for reform, has not mounted a serious legislative effort in this area. Unfortunately, it has chosen a different path, whereby the President, solely on his own authority, sought to revise the existing immigration laws. In our constitutional system, however, it is Congress that has plenary constitutional authority to establish U.S. immigration policy and fundamental reform requires legislative action. The President cannot revamp immigration laws on his own, and his Administration’s recent effort to do so, by announcing that it will seek deportation only for undocumented aliens who have committed non-immigration crimes in the United States, violates the separation of powers and is unconstitutional.

Of course, no President can hope to expel each and every undocumented alien now in the United States – perhaps upwards of 11 million individuals. Human and financial resources to identify, apprehend, process, and promptly deport millions of illegal aliens have been lacking for years and, arguably, so has been the political will to do so. In this environment, immigration enforcement authorities, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, have performed as best they could, given the available resources. Still, millions of illegal aliens have been deported over the years and, while many of them were persons convicted of serious criminal offenses, most deportees were not in that category.

[american_steve]

As Mr. Rivkin said, only Congress has the constitutional authority to establish U.S. immigration policy, not the president. Who does Obama think he is?