Conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions has sent out a detailed "memo" urging Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
In his
"Immigration Handbook for the New Republican Majority," the Alabama senator wrote, "Congress has the power to stop this action by denying funds for its implementation."
"Surely, Congress must not allow the president a single dime to carry out an illegal order that Congress has rejected and which supplants the laws Congress has passed."
Sessions also pointed out in the 25-page document, which was hand-delivered by his aides to GOP offices this week, that's how the GOP-controlled Congress handles Obama’s unilateral measure will "define its legacy."
The memo was planned to frame the GOP policy on immigration ahead of the party’s joint retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania, according to
Politico.
And it comes during the same week that House Republicans are set to pass a plan that would fund the Department of Homeland Security, but include provisions blocking the executive immigration actions.
The White House has warned that, although it supports the agency’s funding,
it is planning to veto the legislation due to the GOP attempt in the legislation to block amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants who have children born in the U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Monday, "I urge the full Congress to pass this appropriation quickly, unburdened by any restrictions on our ability to pursue executive actions to fix our broken immigration system."
Referring to last month’s "cromnibus" budget bill limiting the period for funding, he added, "In these times, this department cannot function on a continuing resolution much longer."
The Sessions "memo" also slammed the Obama administration for what he called the "enforcement collapse" of immigration laws, as well as immigration’s impact on the economy and welfare, according to Politico.
Sessions also claimed that the White House had created the "Silicon Valley STEM hoax," in which it claims that the U.S. faces a shortage of highly skilled American workers to fill tech jobs.
"Simply put, we have more job seekers than jobs," Sessions wrote. "It is astonishing, therefore, that prominent members of Congress wish to see record immigration levels increased yet further."
But Politico said that Sessions' principles on placing limits on the number of immigrants given legal status each year is not supported by many members of his own party.
They want the system overhauled to actually allow more immigrant workers into the country, both highly skilled and lower skilled, the political news website said.
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