Bad Lawyering Behind The Latest Obama Administrative Amnesty: “President Obama Can’t Start Handing Out Green Cards"
05/18/2014
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That there is bad lawyering involved in the Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty is beyond any doubt. You need only peruse the Constitution where the President is charged with faithfully executing the laws of the United States.

That does not include ignoring the laws of the United States or selective enforcement of the laws of the United States. Selective prosecution is prohibited to the President, as is failing to execute the laws of the United States. However, in the area of immigration law, theLeft claims that the power of the president is plenary; he can do anything for any reason.

That is not true, the President cannot give a benefit without appropriate legislation as authority over immigration and naturalization is granted by the Constitution to the legislative branch of government, not the President. But nothing like the Constitution will interfere with the expansion of the Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty.

NYT May 16, 2014 by Michael Shear and Ashley Parker

In the White House, Debating How Far to Go in Easing Deportations

WASHINGTON — At a recent White House meeting with immigration activists, President Obama told the group his hands were tied. Even if he wanted to halt the deportations of millions of illegal immigrants, the president told the group, he could not do so without congressional approval.

But Mr. Obama has more latitude than he lets on, legal experts say, and he may soon reveal how he intends to use it. Under increasing pressure to slow the pace of deportations from Hispanic supporters who helped get him re-elected in 2012, he has ordered his Homeland Security secretary to make immigration enforcement more humane.[More]

We know however that Obama similarly initially denied publicly that he had the authority to halt deportations of a large number of illegal aliens, the so-called DREAMers, but then he not only halted their deportation in violation of his Oath of Office, but unlawfully and unconstitutionally granted benefits to those same illegal aliens.

Interestingly, leftist lawyers admit that the President cannot give a benefit to illegal aliens, and, for the record, the DREAMers are and remain illegal aliens:

Such changes could affect tens of thousands of people, but they would fall far short of the demands from most immigration activists to address the concerns of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. Legal scholars say the White House could also carry out proposals that would remove the fear of deportation and provide work permits for as many as five million illegal immigrants.

“Presidents have pretty much complete discretion when it comes to enforcing criminal and other statutory regimes,” said Peter J. Spiro, who teaches immigration law at Temple University. President Obama can’t start handing out green cards. Short of that, from a legal perspective, there are no serious constitutional or other legal constraints that apply here.”

But that is what Obama did; not green cards, but he did hand out Employment Authorization Documents (EAD), which are permits authorizing aliens to work legally in the United States. But like green cards, EADs are only issued to aliens based on laws passed by Congress, not administrative fiat. And there is no statute that authorized that cohort of illegal aliens to be granted EADs.

So there appears to be some cognitive dissonance in the amnesty community. They stated that the President can't give out green cards, but can give out EADs. Why is that? There is no law authorizing the President to give out either. Congress holds all authority over immigration and naturalization. The President has no authority to give out any benefit to an alien unless it is authorized by statute, and there are no statutes authorizing EADs for aliens illegally present, whether they are DREAMers, parents of DREAMers, or parents of U.S. citizens.

It sounds like the left accidentally admitted that the DACA amnesty is, like all the other Obama Regime amnesties, illegal and unconstitutional.

 

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