Top Republican leaders have finally joined the the 26 state lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s November amnesty.
“President Obama stated himself over 20 times that he does not have the authority to change our immigration laws, yet he went ahead and did it… such an unprecedented power grab undermines the separation of powers in the Constitution and imperils individual liberty,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary committee.
“We must do all that we can to stop President Obama’s lawlessness,” he added.
“President Obama exceeded his authority when he went around Congress to unilaterally change our nation’s immigration laws,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn. “We will continue to fight to reverse the President’s unconstitutional overreach and respect the rule of law,” he added.
The legislators — including Sen. Ted Cruz — signed the brief, which was prepared with the American Center for Law and Justice and was delivered to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court is considering a request from Obama’s lawyers to end a legal injunction against the November amnesty that was imposed mid-February by a Texas district judge, Andrew Hanen.
“We are asking the federal appeals court to reject this latest brazen attempt at another power grab and to leave the preliminary injunction in place – keeping the illegal immigration action on hold – as this issue is litigated,” said a statement from the ACLJ.
“We’re confident that the courts will conclude that this action by President Obama represents Executive overreach that cannot be sustained,” read the ACLJ statement, which is headed by Jay Sekulow.
The lawsuit focuses on the constitutionality of Obama’s amnesty, not on its impact to voters’ wages and jobs.
But the leaders avoid those wage-and-job issues because the GOP’s business allies and donors tend to support Obama’s amnesty. They tend to back the executive order because it could deliver new lower-wage workers and taxpayer-subsidized customers to their doors.
In February and March, GOP leaders in the Senate and in the House allied with Democrats to overcome conservative opposition to the amnesty, by allowing Obama to use fees paid by illegals to fund his amnesty.
The amnesty is opposed by almost 90 percent of the GOP’s base and a huge swath of swing-voters and Democrats who are worried about the impact on Americans’ jobs and wages.
The benefits that Obama wants to provide to the 5 million illegals include work-permits, payments from the Social Security fund, tax rebates worth roughly $1.7 billion over 10 years, plus drivers’ licenses and a quick path to citizenship and the voting booth by 2024. The five-decade cost of Obama’s amnesty could exceed $1.3 billion.