Thread: Ted Cruz on the First Step to Blocking Obama’s Amnesty: Don’t Confirm His ICE Nominee

Ted Cruz on the First Step to Blocking Obama’s Amnesty: Don’t Confirm His ICE Nominee

By Patrick Brennan
December 2, 2014 5:21 PM

You probably don’t know who Sarah Saldaña is, but she may assume some importance in the fight over the implementation of President Obama’s plans to halt immigration enforcement for up to 5 million illegal immigrants and offer work permits to many of them. Why? Because she was nominated in August to be the assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security, which is, of course, closely tied to the president’s plans.

It’s USCIS, not ICE, that will mainly implement the orders, but a number of opponents of the president’s amnesty — including the editors of National Review— have called for Republicans and Democrats to oppose any of Obama’s nominations whose work is related to the executive action and who support it. It certainly seems like Saldaña checks both boxes — and there’s a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing tomorrow to consider her nomination.

So Senator Ted Cruz has issued the following statement:

Ms. Saldana has made it clear in a written statement that as Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement she would enable President Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty,” said Sen. Cruz. “I do not support the President’s unconstitutional amnesty, and therefore, cannot vote for a nominee who will be another rubber stamp for illegal amnesty. I encourage my colleagues, especially those who oppose Obama’s amnesty, to oppose this nomination.

As Cruz explains, he, Senator Mike Lee, and Senator Jeff Sessions have asked Saldaña about the executive action, and found she supports the president’s plans:

I believe that the President of the United States, as others before him, has legal authority to take executive action to address areas within the purview of the Executive branch. It is my understanding that the recently announced executive action pertaining to immigration was reviewed, shaped, and considered by a number of people in whom I have great confidence, including Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder. I also understand that the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice has published an opinion explaining in great detail the legal authority and precedents for the President’s actions concerning enforcement prioritization and deferred action. Unless and until the President’s action is invalidated or withdrawn, I am bound to faithfully execute applicable laws, regulations, and policy.

In testimony, she also said she didn’t believe that the president’s plans will invite new waves of illegal immigration because the amnesty only applies to those who were in the country in 2010 or earlier — when there’s plenty of evidence that a smaller-scale version of the plan acted as a magnet.

Since executive-branch appointments now only require a simple-majority vote in the Senate, Republicans alone can’t block the nomination (or others), but they can try to peel off some Democrats or try to delay the nomination until the end of the busy lame-duck session, in just a few weeks.

Saldaña is a U.S. attorney from the Northern District of Texas, and a hearing was held for her before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in September. She would be the first Latina assistant secretary for ICE.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...ominee-patrick

So Senator Ted Cruz has issued the following statement:

Ms. Saldana has made it clear in a written statement that as Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement she would enable President Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty,” said Sen. Cruz. “I do not support the President’s unconstitutional amnesty, and therefore, cannot vote for a nominee who will be another rubber stamp for illegal amnesty. I encourage my colleagues, especially those who oppose Obama’s amnesty, to oppose this nomination.

His colleagues need to follow suite ASAP!

POLITICS


Obama Has The Power To Grant Amnesty, Says Obama’s ICE Nominee

1:21 PM 12/02/2014TRISTYN BLOOM
Contributor

The woman President Obama has nominated to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement agrees with his decision to take executive action on immigration, saying she has “great confidence” in those who shaped it.

In answers sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and obtained be The Daily Caller, U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldaña said she did not reject Obama’s action, and affirmed his authority to take it.

“I believe that the President of the United States, as others before him, has legal authority to take Executive action to address areas within the purview of the Executive branch,” she wrote. “It is my understanding that the recently announced Executive action pertaining to immigration was reviewed, shaped, and considered by a number of people in whom I have great confidence, including Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder.”

Saldaña, the county’s first Latina U.S. attorney, was nominated to succeed former ICE director John Morton, also an Obama nominee, in August. Morton resigned in 2013, moving on to a private sector position as an executive at Capitol One bank. The position has been vacant since.

Saldaña also claimed that Obama’s executive action won’t lead to a flood of new illegal immigration because it “is limited to persons who entered the United States before January 1, 2010.”

A series of questions posed by Republican Senators Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz also grilled her on the Constitution. When asked what she thought Article II, Section 3 (the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,”) required of the president with regard to immigration laws, she replied, “with respect to immigration enforcement, ‘faithful execution of the laws means to me that the President must judiciously allocate limited enforcement resources to best meet the nation’s needs.” The question was prompted by the Obama administration’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, which ignored and contradicted existing immigration law.

When asked whether the president could decline to enforce a statute “because he believes the statute is not as important as other statues,” she declined to give a solid answer, saying “it can be, depending on the applicable facts, circumstances and the availability of resources.”

She also said a president can decline to enforce a statute because he believes it to be “unjust,” but that “a mere policy disagreement” was insufficient justification.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/02/obama-has-the-power-to-grant-amnesty-says-obamas-ice-nominee/?advD=1248,266799

Are we fed with people being qualified for jobs based on their ethnicity?

by Tony Lee 2 Dec 2014, 6:55 PM PDT

President Barack Obama's nominee to head the agency tasked with enforcing the nation's immigration laws believes Obama can unilaterally grant temporary amnesty and work permits to illegal immigrants.

When Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Mike Lee (R-UT) asked nominee Sarah Saldaña, who will head Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if confirmed, whether she rejected Obama's executive amnesty that "will unilaterally grant legal residence and work authorizations to up to five million individuals illegally in the country," Saldaña simply replied, "no."

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Saldaña's nomination on Wednesday. Saldaña wrote to the Senators:

I believe that the President of the United States, as others before him, has legal authority to take Executive action to address areas within the purview of the Executive branch. It is my understanding that the recently announced Executive action pertaining to immigration was reviewed, shaped and considered by a number of people in whom I have great confidence, including Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder.

I also understand that the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice published an opinion explaining in great detail the legal authority and precedents for the President's actions concerning enforcement prioritization and deferred action. Unless and until the President's action is invalidated or withdrawn, I am bound to faithfully execute applicable laws, regulations and policy.

The Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved of Saldaña's nomination via voice vote before Obama enacted his executive amnesty and while lawmakers were debating the merits of it.

Under Obama, ICE has been accused of relaxing deportations for those who are not the most violent of criminals. During a Tuesday House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Obama's executive amnesty, Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) said that there is an "almost zero" chance that illegal immigrants who have not committed multiple violent crimes will be deported because of the broad prosecutorial discretion that Obama administration officials are using regarding illegal immigrants.

Saldaña was nominated to replace former director John Morton, who stepped down in 2013.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...y-for-Illegals

It is an unconstitutional action no matter who says it's not or how many times they say it! Wake up sleeping People!