Buried in a Roll Call story on the political fallout from President Barack Obama’s decision to unilaterally impose DREAM Act-like amnesty for up to 800,000 illegal immigrants is the reaction by Rep. Steve King (R-IA):
“Americans should be outraged that President Obama is planning to usurp the Constitutional authority of the United States Congress and grant amnesty by edict to 1 million illegal aliens,” King said in a statement. “There is no ambiguity in Congress about whether the DREAM Act’s amnesty program should be the law of the land. It has been rejected by Congress, and yet President Obama has decided that he will move forward with it anyway. President Obama, an ex constitutional law professor, whose favorite word is audacity, is prepared to violate the principles of Constitutional Law that he taught.”
King is right. The DREAM Act – a proposal to exchange American citizenship for completing college or serving in the military – cannot pass Congress because “the American people have rejected amnesty because it will erode the Rule of Law.”
Contra the Obama administration’s apparent belief, conservative opposition to amnesty does not rest on intrinsic racism. The problem with illegal immigration isn’t immigration. It’s that it is illegal immigration. That the president is choosing to implement a policy without a law to base it on drives home the point that liberals see laws as formalities that can be ignored. Conservatives like King and yours truly see them as the guarantees of a free and orderly society.
Like so many other fundamental disagreements being argued this cycle, this issue needs a lot of attention.
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