Politicshouse gop immigrationdeportationsobama deportations

GOP Senators Accuse Obama Administration Of Suspending Immigration Law 'At Its Whim'

GOP Senators Go After Obama On Immigration
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WASHINGTON -- Twenty-two Republican senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Thursday going after the administration's review of its deportation policies, saying the reported "changes under consideration would represent a near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement."

"Our entire constitutional system is threatened when the executive branch suspends the law at its whim and our nation's sovereignty is imperiled when the commander-in-chief refuses to defend the integrity of its borders," they wrote in the letter, which was posted by Politico.

The signatories include Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Twenty of the 22 senators -- excluding Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) -- voted against a comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed last year.

Obama announced in March that his Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, was conducting a review of deportation policies to make them more humane. The review hasn't been completed, and DHS spokespersons have said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the final result. But according to reports, the review could lead to limiting deportations of repeat immigration offenders with serious criminal records. It could also reportedly allow immigrants in prolonged detention to receive bond hearings.

The administration has argued that it has the authority to set deportation priorities as part of its prosecutorial discretion, and that given limited resources it must focus on certain immigrants for deportation over others.

Many Republicans disagree, and have accused the White House of skirting its immigration enforcement responsibilities. House GOP members have said Obama's policies lead to distrust that could make immigration reform impossible this year.

The senators' letter accuses the administration of "incrementally nullifying immigration enforcement in the interior of the United States -- to the point that unless individuals in the country illegally are apprehended, tried, and convicted for a felony or serious offense, they are free to live and work in the country."

This makes some people "largely exempt from the law," the letter contends. The policies mean that "countless dangerous offenders are released back into the streets on a continual basis," according to the letter.

"Since ICE frequently takes no action until after the most serious crimes have occurred and the offenders have been tried and imprisoned, the administration is allowing preventable crimes harming innocent people to take place every day," the letter reads.

This article has been updated with additional information about the signatories.

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Before You Go

11 Ways Immigration Reform Helps The Economy
Reform Would Help Curb The Deficit(01 of11)
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Immigration reform would reduce the federal deficit by $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to an April analysis by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. (credit:Getty Images)
Expelling Immigrants Is Expensive(02 of11)
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Expelling the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States would cost $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years, according to CNBC. That's because it costs the government more than $8,000 to deport each person. (credit:Getty Images)
Reform Would Help Fix The Social Security Problem(03 of11)
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Immigration reform would help bolster Social Security because more legal workers would mean more people contributing payroll taxes to its trust fund, according to an analysis from the Social Security administration. Undocumented workers already contribute $15 billion per year to Social Security. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Start Successful Businesses(04 of11)
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More than a quarter of technology and engineering firms started between 1995 and 2005 had a foreign-born owner, according to the Washington Post. One of the founders of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang, is an immigrant from Taiwan. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Save $410 Billion Over The Next 10 Years(05 of11)
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The immigration reform bill proposed by the "gang of eight" senators would save $410 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis from Gordon Gray, the director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. The savings would come largely from a boost in GDP resulting from undocumented immigrants gaining citizenship and in turn likely making more money. (credit:AP)
High-Tech Companies Say Reform Would Boost Their Bottom Line(06 of11)
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Companies like Microsoft and Google have said that immigration reform would help them by allowing for more H1B visas, a special kind of visa geared toward highly-skilled immigrants. The tech giants say they can't find enough qualified people in the U.S. to fill their staffing needs. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost The Wages Of Native-Born Workers(07 of11)
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U.S.-born workers see between a 0.1 and 0.6 percent boost in wages on average with an increase in immigration, according to a January report from the Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative of the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. That's because immigrant workers bring skills with them that complement those of native-born workers, leading to new jobs. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Are Entrepreneurial (08 of11)
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Immigrants are more than twice as likely than native-born Americans to start new businesses, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost GDP By More Than $1 Trillion Over 10 Years(09 of11)
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Immigration reform would boost GDP by $1.5 trillion -- or about 1 percent -- over 10 years, according to an estimate from UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda cited by CNBC. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Create Jobs(10 of11)
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Businesses owned by immigrants created 4.7 million jobs in the U.S. in 2007, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Bring In More Money Than It Costs In Benefits(11 of11)
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Though many critics of immigration reform argue against the cost of providing increased public benefits, analysts say higher spending is not a likely consequence. A Congressional Budget Analysis of George W. Bush's 2007 immigration reform proposal found that it would cost the government $23 billion in more public services, but bring in $48 billion in revenue, according to the Washington Post. (credit:Getty Images)
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