Prohibitions Relating to Deferred Action for Aliens
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARR. I thank the chairman for his excellent work on this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed, with my support, a strong border security bill. And I rise in support of this second reform bill that would, if enacted, immediately and effectively address the humanitarian and national security crisis that has developed along the southern border of the United States.
This crisis, which will result in an estimated 90,000 unaccompanied children entering the United States illegally through the end of this fiscal year, representing a 1,381 percent increase since 2009, was entirely caused by the Obama administration's failure to secure the border, its unwillingness to enforce existing laws, and its disastrous 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which invited this surge in illegal immigration.
The action taken by the House tonight is a serious, bold, and thoughtful legislative response to President Obama's failure to secure the border and ensure that the laws are faithfully executed.
But there is a second and very important reason besides a policy reason why every Member of this House should support this legislation, and that is to vindicate the separation of powers.
There was a U.S. Supreme Court case in 1983 that dealt with an immigration issue, INS v. Chadha. And in that case, the Supreme Court talked about the procedure that the Constitution outlines to change the law, how legislation is enacted in accordance with constitutional command. And the court held that there was a single, finely wrought, and exhaustively considered procedure for enacting legislation. And unilateral executive memoranda from the White House is not the way to change the law.
So if you are interested in vindicating the separation of powers, if you believe that the way to change the law--even if you believe in the DREAM Act, even if you believe in the President's policy of deferred action--the way that we do that is through constitutional procedure.
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