The plenary power of the U.S. Congress allows for passage of laws, levy of taxes, wage wars and hold in custody those who offend against its laws.
Under the Plenary Power Doctrine, Congress has the power to make immigration policy free from judicial review. This doctrine was established at the end of the nineteenth century. The Supreme Court declared that Congress had "plenary power" to regulate immigration, Indian tribes, and newly acquired territories.
The doctrine has basis in the concept that immigration is a question of national sovereignty, relating to a nation's right to define its own borders. “Courts generally refrain from interfering in immigration matters. To date there have been no successful challenges to federal legislation that refuses admission to classes of non-citizens or removes resident aliens.”
“DHS, along with the Department of Justice, will be reviewing the current deportation caseload to clear out low-priority cases on a case-by-case basis and make more room to deport people who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk. In addition, they will take steps to keep low-priority cases out of the deportation pipeline in the first place. They will be applying common sense guidelines to these decisions, like a person’s ties and contributions to the community, their family relationships and military service record.” (Cecilia Muñoz, August 18, 2011)
President Obama passed a document, a back door amnesty titled, “Maximizing Public Safety and Better Focusing Resources,” while suing Arizona and Alabama because they are enforcing immigration laws already on the books. As a DHS official said with a straight face, “This case-by-case approach will enhance public safety.”
“Bowing to pressure from immigrant rights activists, the Obama administration said Thursday that it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria, such as attending school, having family in the military or having primary responsibility for other family members ‘care.” (Washington Post, August 19, 2011)
The DHS and the White House have decided to take existing deportation cases and run them through a careful screening, which will cost money and time, and take resources from other areas. Suddenly, nobody is a threat to our national security; aliens can stay here for the duration. This is a usurpation of Congress’ plenary power to decide who comes in and who does not.
Congress makes laws and the President executes those laws. The President is arrogating powers to himself to decide who comes into the country and who gets to stay. When we are trying to deliver quality education, health care, and other services to our citizens in a depressed economy, the notion that the president can let foreigners into our country at will and treat them equally with citizens, makes the president’s discretion unlimited.
Our borders are out of control, our resources are strained, yet this administration is saying that millions of aliens are staying and states must provide for their free education, healthcare, employment, and housing.
The message to illegal immigrants is that if you get in, your chances of being deported are zero. We now have unlimited immigration, limited only by the number of people who are trying to come in.
The ability of our society to provide any kind of quality of life and services to future generations of Americans is uncertain. There are 25 million unemployed looking for jobs right now, out of a labor force of approximately 125 million people, that is 20% unemployment, not the reported 9 percent. Jobs should be freed by deporting people who are here illegally.
We are a nation of immigrants and I cannot blame those illegal immigrants who come here to have a better life, but there is a legal process to do so. Breaking the laws of our country is not the right way to do it. There are social and financial consequences to a blanket amnesty program:
diminishes the legal citizenship process
illegal aliens jump to the head of the line, at the expense of those who had to wait, spend money, and valuable time pursuing legal immigration
takes away jobs from Americans at a time when we have high unemployment
strains emergency medical services and bankrupts small hospitals (illegal immigrants use emergency rooms for regular doctor visits such as sniffles instead of a regular doctor whose fees would be much smaller but not free)
depletes education funds, Social Security funds, housing funds, welfare funds, food stamps fund
increases criminality (gangs and those who come here with nefarious intent)
spreads unchecked diseases especially through unvaccinated children in school
allows terrorists to enter freely into the United States
The regime is hiding behind the banner of “prosecutorial discretion.” Each case must be judged on a case-by-case basis. Do we have the resources to do so when these people have broken the law by coming into the country illegally? There are different levels of criminality indeed, but once you break a law, you are a criminal. Crossing the border of any country illegally, whether for economic reasons or nefarious reasons, is a crime. Most countries, including Mexico, have serious punishments and immediate deportation for the offenders who cross their borders illegally.
What is the rationalization of blanket amnesty? Politicians and professional ethnic scam artists are screaming that they are not getting votes unless they are appeasing the Hispanic vote, partisan politics 101. There are no limits now to the Executive branch’s authority to give out green cards to millions of new voters.
Never before has the Executive branch said indirectly to Congress and the American people that their wishes do not matter. Why should Congress bother to pass laws if the President is going to ignore them? Limitless, un-reviewed authority to run immigration policies outside of Congress’ authority is soft tyranny. The rule of law must not be ignored or self-determination as a nation no longer exists.
As the voice of the people no longer exists, legal challenges must be made so that status can be checked, deportation streamlined, and have a finality to the process. Existing immigration laws of the land must be enforced. Citizens must have legal standing, a standing clause that allows them to go to court to enjoin the president for stealing residency at the expense of the American people.
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Ileana Writes is a freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism”, “Liberty on Life Support” and “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” “Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later” are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
