Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) demanded that the Senate block President Obama from changing immigration laws through “executive fiat.”
“The Senate must vote on the House-passed measure to stop these unlawful actions,” Sessions said Wednesday. “Any senator who fails to request such a vote is complicit in these planned actions.”
{mosads}Sessions comments were prompted by reports that Obama is considering issuing worker visas for nearly 5 million immigrants this summer. The latest executive action would allow immigrants with expired student and worker visas to stay in the United States if they have children that are U.S. citizens.
“These planned executive actions would nullify our laws, invite a massive new wave of unimpeded illegality, and strip the American people of their lawful right to have their jobs and communities protected,” Sessions said. “This must be stopped.”
Before adjourning for the August recess, the House passed an immigration funding measure that, among other things, would stop the administration from issuing any more deferred action on deportations.
The House bill also went after Obama’s 2012 executive order to defer the deportation of “Dreamers” — undocumented immigrant children brought to the United States by their parents before 2007.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the House bill couldn’t pass in the Senate. Sessions said Reid was blocking the Senate from holding a vote on the House measure.
“It is true that Majority Leader Reid is blocking it from a vote,” Sessions said. “But Reid acts only with the blessing of his members in the Democrat conference — so the American people have the power to force it to a vote through their elected senators.”
Republicans need to gain at least six Senate seats in the midterm election to take the majority away from Democrats.