Arizona Republican Rep. Ben Quayle asked Homeland Security committee chairman Rep. Peter King to bring Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano before his committee to answer questions about her decision to suspend immigration law enforcement programs in his state on Monday.
Napolitano’s decision came in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that partially upheld Arizona’s controversial immigration enforcement law. While other parts of the law were struck down, the part allowing state and local law enforcement to inquire into someone’s immigration status remained.
Quayle berated Napolitano’s decision in a letter to King, saying “we have entered upon a new phase of the nation’s continuing quest to establish a clear and sustainable immigration policy which upholds the rule of law, the rights of persons, the security of the American people and the responsibilities of the federal government.”
“We now confront the spectacle of the president of the United States behaving as an emperor, and the cabinet officer entrusted with the security of the nation as his court jester,” Quayle continued, before asking King to summon Napolitano to testify before his committee about her abrupt decision to scale back immigration enforcement in Arizona.
“The secretary’s proper response to this morning’s Supreme Court decision, needless to say, would have been to immediately arrange open and collegial discussions with Arizona law enforcement authorities to determine the best course forward for the orderly and constitutional enforcement of the law,” Quayle added. “This is the response which would have reflected a sincere desire to serve the public, honor our processes and faithfully discharge the oath she and the president have sworn. Instead, she chose to send forth an arrogant decree which simultaneously insults all Americans and ushers the secretary into history as a petty tyrant.”
It’s unclear if or when King would bring Napolitano before the committee to testify, as his spokesman didn’t immediately return The Daily Caller’s request for comment. But lately King has expressed an interest in these types of issues. In response to Napolitano’s and President Barack Obama’s recent decision to choose to selectively enforce immigration law in an effort to circumvent Congress and implement the administration’s version of the DREAM Act, King told TheDC he was launching an immediate review of the legality of the decision.