Posted on 02/06/2014 1:09:56 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Sessions: ‘Obama Administration has forgotten that our immigration laws are meant to protect the interests of Americans’
Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions offered a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration’s decision to write in new exemptions to a law barring access to asylum seekers and refugees who have provided “limited material support” to terrorists, Thursday afternoon.
“Not only is this a national security issue, but a financial issue: those granted admission gain access to federal welfare programs funded by U.S. taxpayers,” Sessions said in a statement. “It seems the Obama Administration has forgotten that our immigration laws are meant to protect the interests of Americans.”
The senator cited a recently-released audit of immigration systems — which revealed that 70 percent of applications for asylum contained warning signs for fraud. He also cited warnings from USCIS union head Kenneth Palinkas’ that the immigration processing system has become a “visa clearing house for the world.” He further noted recent reports that those seeking protection in the U.S. due to “credible fear” have skyrocketed, calling it a “glaring enforcement loophole.”
“In light of these and other facts, it is thus deeply alarming that the Obama Administration would move unilaterally to relax admissions standards for asylum-seekers and potentially numerous other applicants for admission who have possible connections to insurgent or terrorist groups,” Sessions, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, continued. “This includes terror groups not yet designated: Al Qaeda was not designated by the Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization until 1999 — long after the first attack on the World Trade Center.”
According to Sessions, the U.S. should tighten such restrictions, not loosen them.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department published the new exemptions in the Federal Register to narrow a ban in the Immigration and Nationality Act excluding refugees and asylum seekers who had provided limited material support to terrorists.
“These exemptions cover five kinds of limited material support that have adversely and unfairly affected refugees and asylum seekers with no tangible connection to terrorism: material support that was insignificant in amount or provided incidentally in the course of everyday social, commercial, family or humanitarian interactions, or under significant pressure,” a DHS official explained to The Daily Caller.
DHS further argued that Section 212(d)(3)(B) of the INA allows either the secretary of state or DHS secretary in consultation with each other and with the U.S. Attorney General “to determine that certain terrorism bars of the INA do not apply.”
Sessions, however, said that DHS does not have the authority to eliminate portions of the law, saying the department’s claim “leaves one incredulous.”
“It is one thing to approve a waiver in a particular case with uniquely compelling circumstances; it is entirely another thing to declare a plain legal requirement is null and void,” he said. “What is the point of Congress passing a law if the Administration abuses its ‘discretion’ to say that law simply no longer applies? This is yet one more instance of the Administration rewriting U.S. code through executive decree.”
Sessions concluded by highlighting his concerns for national security and the rule of law.
“This and other administrative actions bypassing Congress and plain law must end,” he said.
It give me no pleasure to day this, but there are a number of folks posting here who have forgotten that very thing.
They just don’t care. What they want are millions and millions of more immigrant Democrat voters so that they will not have to waste valuable campaign fund, PAC Bloc funds, and other union slush funds on Democrat cheating.
That cheating is expensive - buyin votes with walkin’ round money and all that.
His clarity is spot on.
We don’t hear it much anymore.
Obama does not think like an American.
That’s because he is NOT.
That law should be applied to products immigrating here too.
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
A real president has a constitutional responsibility that:
"He shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
Obama systematically neglects the Oath that he went through the motions of taking and the responsibilities that he pretended to promise to uphold. He is in this only for personal gain and for political advancement of an anti-American, anti-freedom agenda.
Forgotten has been replaced with planned
Thomas Sowell had a good article about that recently, too. He said that immigration laws are the only laws discussed in terms of how to help the people who break them. All we hear is, “How can we help all these people who are living in the shadows?” “How can we meet the challenges of them being here, and how can we serve them?” “It’s not the children’s fault their parents brought them here, let’s give them in-state tuition!” “Undocumented immigrants just want a better life!” “They’re so hardworking!” “We mustn’t offend them!” Blah, blah, blah.
Everything is about them. “What do THEY want? What do THEY need? What are THEY going through?” No one seems to care about all the Americans who, number one, did NOT ask or vote for this, (unlike the illegals, who chose to come here for their own benefit,) and number two, Americans are suffering far worse than the illegals are! Some illegal gets his feelings hurt at the sight of our flag, well, boo hoo. Americans are being beaten, raped, robbed, killed, hit by drunk drivers, losing their emergency rooms, their wages depressed, their identities stolen, and on and on.
It’s about time it occurred to somebody that immigration laws are supposed to be for US. Not for them. US.
bttt
Obama hasn’t forgotten the purpose of our immigration laws.
To him laws are just a pesky formality to overcome so he can do whet he wants.
Sort of like the US Constitution
Obama and his administration did not forget anything. They are purposely working to destroy everything every patriot has died to give us.
Obama hasn’t forgotten. He’s making war against America. That’s what tyrants do in every country.
Oh, come now, Mr. Sessions. Obama hasn’t forgotten anything. When people give this guy the benefit of the doubt, they give him more leeway.
So0 have Boner, McConnell, Linda Graham, Juan McCain and Eric Canter.
Obama does not think like an American.
Obama is not an American , not even North/South American
As far as the Obamabots are concerned the very concept of national identity is foreign. They do not think of themselves as Americans.
I agree.
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