Senators warn Obama: 'No amnesty by presidential fiat'

White House rumored to be planning stay of deportation for millions of illegals

Posted: June 22, 2010
8:43 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Amid buzz that President Obama may be seeking to parole or "defer action" on millions of illegal aliens in the U.S., eight Republican senators are warning the president not to advance any such plan.

"There's a lot we can agree on when it comes to dealing with the immigration problems in the United States, but this appears to be amnesty in disguise, and is simply an attempt to circumvent Congress," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement.

Grassley and Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; David Vitter, R-La.; Jim Bunning, R-Ky.; James Inhofe, R-Okla.; Thad Cochran, R-Miss.; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., signed a letter to the president dated June 21.

"We understand that there's a push for your administration to develop a plan to unilaterally extend either deferred action or parole to millions of illegal aliens in the United States," they wrote in their letter. "We understand that the administration may include aliens who have willfully overstayed their visas or filed for benefits knowing that they will not be eligible for a status for years to come."

"Deferred action" is granted by the Department of Homeland Security. It's a short-term suspension of deportation hearings for illegal aliens. With "deferred action," illegals are often allowed to apply for employment authorization cards.

The lawmakers noted that "deferred action" and parole are discretionary actions reserved for "individual cases that present unusual, emergent or humanitarian circumstances."

"Deferred action and parole were not intended to be used to confer a status or offer protection to large groups of illegal aliens, even if the agency claims that they look at each case on a 'case-by-case' basis," they wrote.

Eight senators write letter to President Obama, urging him to abandon any plans for "deferred action."

The senators agreed that the nation's immigration laws "need to be fixed," but they added, "While deferred action and parole are executive branch authorities, they should not be used to circumvent Congress' constitutional authority to legislate immigration policy, particularly as it relates to the illegal population in the United States."

Urging Obama for assurance that he has no plans to use either authority, the senators requested that he clarify the administration's intentions immediately.

"The administration would be wise to abandon any plans for deferred action or parole for the illegal population," they wrote. "Such a move would further erode the American public's confidence in the federal government and its commitment to securing the borders and enforcing the laws already on the books."

As WND reported, former Obama adviser and SEIU executive vice president Eliseo Medina explained that granting citizenship to millions of illegal aliens would expand the "progressive" electorate and help ensure a "progressive" governing coalition for the long term.

"We reform the immigration laws, it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters," Medina said during his speech at a June 2009 Washington conference for the liberal America's Future Now!

Medina said that during the presidential election in November 2008, Latinos and immigrants "voted overwhelmingly for progressive candidates. Barack Obama got two out of every three voters that showed up."

"Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? Can you imagine 8 million new voters who care about our issues and will be voting? We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just for an election cycle."

See video of Medina's remarks:

In a recent column, Pat Buchanan argued the wave of illegal aliens has been changing the nation's political climate.

"The correlation seems absolute," he wrote. "The more immigrants who come in and become citizens, the more Democratic the country becomes."

According to a Center for Immigration Studies report, "Immigration, Political Realignment and the Demise of Republican Political Prospects," of recent immigrants who became citizens by 2008, by a margin of 55-31 they identified as Democrats. Among immigrants who had not yet become citizens, 70 percent identified as Democrats and 15 percent as Republicans.

Buchanan wrote, "The sooner Democrats get them naturalized, registered and voting, the sooner the bell tolls for the Grand Old Party."

WND also reported when talk-radio icon Rush Limbaugh suggested the existence of U.S. elections is now threatened by a move he expects Obama to pursue: mass amnesty for illegal aliens.

"The next big push will be amnesty for ... millions of illegal immigrants who are here," he predicted on a March radio program.

"Obama's gonna need their votes in 2012," he said. "The Democrats are going to need their votes in every election from now on – if we have elections, and I'm not joking."

Limbaugh explained what he believes Obama's next major move will be: padding voter rolls.

"The next thing that's going to happen is a major push for comprehensive immigration reform. It will be called amnesty," said Limbaugh. "None of this should have been a mystery to anybody.

"He will divide this country even further. We can't stop it. We deal with a president who doesn't care how many votes he loses in November."