On Wednesday, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), released a letter to the press that he had sent to the White House earlier in the day. The letter, signed by 32 other House republicans, essentially demanded that President Obama proceed with deporting all of the DREAMers. (DREAMers are undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.) The letter also requested that President Obama forget about comprehensive immigration reform being passed, especially if it includes a pathway to citizenship.
Below is an excerpt from the letter. The entire letter can be read here.
Firstly, we call on you to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created, without congressional support, by your Administration in June, 2012. While the current program only applies to arrivals prior to 2007, the very existence of the program contradicts present law and violates the Constitutional principle of a separation of powers which grants primary law making authority to the Congress. The Executive does not get to pick and choose which laws must be enforced and which can be selectively ignored. Further, DACA rewards families and individuals who have broken our laws, further encouraging others to seek similar benefits. The DACA program must be immediately ended to send a clear signal to all individuals that our immigration laws will be enforced.
Secondly, you must make an explicit public commitment that you will not support legislation that extends legal status to newly arriving illegal aliens no matter the age. Secretary Johnson’s statement that S. 744, the Senate’s immigration proposal, would not confer benefits to the newly arriving UACs is insufficient to mitigate the popular belief that a pathway to citizenship will be available to any individual in the United States. We request that you remove from consideration any preferential treatment for individuals who have recently illegally crossed our borders.
Obviously, Issa and Co. are trying to make political hay for the Republican Party over the recent crisis involving the influx of young immigrants coming in from Central America and being detained at the border. On July 1st, newscasts across the country showed protesters in Murrieta, CA, spurred on by Mayor Alan Long, blocking buses that were transporting some of these detainees to a processing center in Murrieta. The anger displayed by the protesters was palpable and the scene was replayed on cable news over and over. Therefore, Republicans feel like they have a way to energize their ‘angry white guy’ base by pushing hard against comprehensive immigration reform.
Besides tapping into the anger showed by the extremists regarding immigration, Issa is also using this letter to help back Speaker of the House John Boehner’s play. Boehner announced last week that House Republicans plan to sue President Obama over his use of executive orders. Issa’s letter refers to Obama circumventing Congress numerous times. It seems apparent that Issa and other House Republicans want to show Boehner that they are fully on board with his plan to sue the White House. It also seems like another step for the GOP to finally get what they’ve long dreamed about — impeachment.
In the end, this is all bluster and no bite. The President is going to blow this letter off and not think twice. It is merely an effort by Issa to get his name into this discussion, as the other ‘scandals’ he’s been ‘investigating’ (IRS, Benghazi, etc.) have turned up nothing. Issa is just chasing his white whale. And it keeps eluding him.
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