by Rep. John R. Carter (TX31)

The President is slick. He knew when he issued his “amnesty” plan he did not need Congress. Yet, he also knew he could get House Republicans to take the fall and boy, did we ever. I want my neighbors to know the truth that is not making it to the news- the President does not need funding from Congress to implement his executive amnesty.

The President’s amnesty would issue visas and work permits to five million illegals.  The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for issuing these visas and work permits, is solely operated on fees collected from those visas and work permits. No taxpayer dollars are provided via Congress.

In response to the President’s amnesty, House Republicans worked to ensure no money collected by USCIS could be used to grant visas and work permits to those who refused to abide by our laws.  Senate Democrats and the White House ultimately blocked these efforts and in so doing showed they were willing to put their political agenda above the safety of Americans.  Fortunately, a Texas District Court ruled the President’s actions are so detrimental to the rule of law that an injunction was issued that immediately stopped the executive orders.

Americans should be furious that the President is using money and fees collected from non-citizens to fund his executive orders on immigration and force his will on the American people.  Legal immigrants seeking the American dream have waited in line, paid their fees, and abided by the rules.  Now they see those fees re-directed so USCIS can issue work permits to millions who chose to sneak in through the back door.  The President has exploited the well-intentioned purpose of USCIS to circumvent the will of Congress and the American people to pursue his own political ambitions yet again.

I am not willing to risk America’s national security over the President’s political games.  Yet the issue of illegal executive amnesty supported by fees from legal immigrants is separate from the need to fund our Department of Homeland Security, no matter how much the President would like to link them for political gain.  I voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the agency responsible for protecting America from terrorists, both foreign and domestic, securing our borders, and enforcing our immigration laws—the actual laws, not just the ones the President makes up.  I support the brave men and women working to protect our Country and the mission they serve.

I despise what the President is doing.  I share the anger of millions of Americans who see their good-hearted laws being perverted, and the disappointment of thousands of legal immigrants who now wonder how an America they have worked so hard to join, which is embodied by tenets of fairness and equality, could become so unfair and unequal to those who play by the rules.  I will continue to fight to stop this presidential lawlessness and restore the rule of law and ideals on which our Nation was founded.