Inhofe: Obama trying to grant amnesty by executive order

Kerry Picket
Published on June 25, 2010
6/26/10 8:15 AM EST Update:

Fox News is reporting the followingemphasis is mine)

The Department of Homeland Security http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06 ... -illegals/ on Friday denied any plans to grant http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06 ... -illegals/ blanket amnesty http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06 ... -illegals/ to the "entire illegal immigrant population," following claims from senators and others that the Obama administration has been holding behind-the-scenes talks to craft a gameplan for mass legalization.

The concern is that DHS, in a bid to bypass Congress, would extend what is known as deferred action or parole -- actions usually taken on a case-by-case basis -- to millions of illegal immigrants at once.

The department statement, however, did not address the possibility of giving a selective reprieve to the segment of the population holding expired visas -- as opposed to those who crossed illegally. This is something that a former Bush administration official told FoxNews.com could be an option.

But the statement said the reprieves would not be drastically expanded. The department, while affirming its authority to grant the extensions "on the merits of cases," said they are applied on a "case-by-case" basis.

"DHS does not grant deferred action without a review of relevant facts," the statement said. "To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action to the nation's entire illegal immigrant population."

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In a previous post on Tuesday, http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/wat ... ive-order/ I referred to a story where the non-profit immigration organization Numbers USA reported that a group of GOP senators sent President Obama a letter expressing their concern about rumors of an executive order being drawn up that would grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

I spoke with Senator James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican and one of the signers of the letter, on Thursday night about the matter. He noted that while nothing has been confirmed on the president’s end, he confirmed he signed the letter to the president. He also said:

“By executive order, he’s trying to do what should be done legislatively in terms of amnesty for a group of people who would otherwise not be entitled to it, and I’m opposed to that. At the time the letter was sent, he was either in the process of doing it or he’s already done it. I can’t tell you which.â€