HOW THE GOP SHOULD REACT TO OBAMA EXEC ORDERS

boblonsberry.com ^ | 11/24/14 | Bob Lonsberry

[shortstop]

Take him to court.

That’s what the Republicans in Congress should do about Barack Obama’s executive actions on illegal immigration.

Some member of the House or Senate should file suit in federal court seeking an injunction on the grounds that the actions are a clear violation of the Constitution, which authorizes the Congress to establish a “uniform rule of naturalization.”

The Constitution gives matters of immigration to the Congress – the people’s branch of government – and a president is violating the Constitution when he abrogates a congressional action on immigration.

It’s really very simple.

And it’s not about illegal aliens or America’s immigrant heritage, it’s about the Constitution and the separation of powers.

The president may have decided he supersedes the Constitution, but the courts may not agree.

So let them decide.

And don’t get drawn into a political pissing match. Don’t shut down the government, don’t stonewall nominees, don’t do anything other than lay out the error of the president’s actions and take it to court.

Let the Constitution heal itself. When one branch becomes disproportionately powerful, the Constitution uses a series of checks and balances to let the other branches rein it in. In this situation, the executive branch has taken unto itself a power the Constitution denies it, at the expense of the legislative branch. So we ask the third branch – the courts – to determine what’s right.

And I ask the Republicans to get about governing.

When the new Congress convenes in January, the Republicans should race through a nation-changing legislative agenda. They should put together something akin to the Contract With America – a specific list of laws and changes – and pass it all, rapid fire, while working hard to explain to the nation the advisability of its various principles.

Maybe the president will sign, maybe the president will veto.

That’s up to him.

Laying forth a vision for the country is up to the Republicans.

And near the top of that list, maybe the first piece, should be immigration reform.

Not because of Obama, but in spite of Obama.

What he has pretended to do, the Republican Congress must actually do.

Because it turns out that the “immigration reform” of Obama’s executive actions is a political stunt which doesn’t truly help anyone and which leaves the worst problems completely unaddressed.

All Obama did was create a piece of paper that promises not to deport a small subset of illegal aliens who, under current practice, weren’t getting deported anyway. He has failed to deliver for immigration advocates, and he has failed to deliver for America.

The Dream Act students – arguably the most sympathetic of all involved in this issue – got nothing. Legal immigrants got nothing. Folks wishing to come here legally, who now face great difficulty and expense, got nothing. Employers and foreigners hoping for a functioning guest-worker program got nothing.

All we got was a lecture on the virtues of immigration from a president whose administration has essentially shut down all immigration from Europe – and whose program for 5 million illegals will serve almost no Africans and Asians.

Like most things in his presidency, Obama has effed this up. Whether driven by arrogant incompetence, or psychological dysfunction springing from his chaotic upbringing, or a purposeful desire to wreck the nation, Obama has effed this up.

And the Republicans should show the path back.

Not by fiery speeches of denunciation, but by a reasoned and well-explained legislative agenda.

The president who ignored the hopes of illegal aliens for six years didn’t finally issue his executive actions for them, he did so as a political trick. He wants to draw the Republicans into a fight.

All he knows as political rhetoric is hateful denunciation of people who disagree with him. It is hard to find a speech he’s given that isn’t at least in part bitter condemnation of people whose crime is holding a contrary opinion.

So ignore him and his invective.

Let him go from union rally to union rally, shouting the “Heil Hitlers” of the modern day.

The people have entrusted the Congress to the Republicans. More Republicans hold legislative office in this country today than at any time in its history. The recent election put more Republicans in Congress than at any time since 1946.

There’s a reason for that.

And a purpose.

And the purpose is to fix America.

It doesn’t matter what he’ll sign or what he won’t. It matters what America needs.

The people didn’t vote for a pissing match, they voted for a solution. It’s become evident governing is beyond this man’s ability or interest. It’s become evident the people don’t trust him.

It’s become evident that if the Republicans don’t save the country, it won’t get saved.

So they must wisely avoid the sideshow distraction of Obama’s executive actions. They are unconstitutional on their face, and they do very little, they are only meant to draw a response.

So don’t give it to him.

Instead, take up the things that really matter for this country, the things at the top of the priority list. Get them done. Get solutions offered. Get solutions passed.

And if he won’t sign them, in two years we can elect somebody who will.

The people elected the Republicans to lead.

[SgtHooper]

Why not also create an illegal alien whistleblower act that somehow rewards illegal aliens who expose crime in the current US system related to all facets of immigration?

[FreeAtlanta]

Thanks

We hear all the time how congress controls the purse. Well, prove it!

Congress should shut down Obama’s travel until he is willing to cooperate.

[zencycler]

The GOP should run public info ads to get the voters riled up on this issue. I was thinking one that looks like it’s coming from some immigration attorney who is encouraging more people to come here illegally so he can help them take advantage of the new law (with some fine print newsbar disclaimer that says it’s dramatic portrayal of what may happen if Obama’s executive action is allowed to stand).

[ModelBreaker]

I like Cruz’ idea. No judicial or other appointments will get a vote or even a committee hearing until he reverses the action. He can’t back down. That prevents him from packing the courts in the next two years with Eric Holders. The the next R president reverses the order and signs a bill appropriating lots of money to build a real fence and enforce it.

[Liz]

I SEE IT LIKE THIS----Obama is seething about being trounced. He desperately needed to assert himself. He needed an ISSUE---not reform.

He figured he'd throw a monkey-wrench into the new Republican majority....then went on TV blathering about "reform." Instead, he stepped into a huge pile of crap.

So why should the Republicans help him out? I say let the ding-a-ling fester in his own crap.

THE UNALTERABLE FACTS ARE THESE---"THE PRESIDENT SAID" illegal immigrants (hiding in the shadows)---including criminals---are encouraged to come forward to fill out APPLICATIONS for temporary residency

The "tolerant and compassionate" Obama govt will record all their information including illegals' documents from their homelands: copies of their matricular cards, passports, names of family members, number of children, places of residence in the USA, as well as in their homelands, including full biometrics, fingerprints, DNA etc. etc. etc.....

Remember people, "THE PRESIDENT SAID" illegals should give federal operatives and agencies all their relevant info so that 5 million illegals "could come out of the shadows and stay." (sniffle)

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Oh, BTW, all info will be data-mined w/ existing federal and state info.....heaven knows what we'll find:

Multiple identities,

voting registrations,

multiple SS nos, multiple drivers' licenses,

multiple EBT cards,

EITC applications,

real estate holdings here, and in their homelands,

investment accounts,

American Express platinum cards,

bank accounts,

bank cards,

debit cards,

wire-transfers to offshore banks,

memberships in violent organizations advocating the overthrow of the US govt.......

etc, etc, etc, and so on and forth, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

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Mmmmmm.....I can't wait til they all come out of the shadows. ROTFLMCO.