Byrne: Obama's executive actions should be 'frightening to all Americans,' clearly not Founders' intent

(Video above: Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL1) speaks out against President Obama’s executive actions on immigration on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Monday, Dec. 8, 2014.)

WASHINGTON — Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL1) on Monday spoke out against the President’s executive actions on immigration, which unilaterally shielded 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation.

Byrne, who was elected to his first full term in November after winning a special election in December of 2013, began by laying out a hypothetical scenario in which a Republican president decided not to faithfully execute a law that Democrats are passionate about.

“Imagine a few years down the road that a Republican President announces that he has instructed the Justice Department to no longer enforce the Clean Air Act, that he has told the Justice Department to no longer prosecute violations of the Clean Air Act,” Byrne said. “My colleagues on the other side of the aisle would rise up in frustration and indignation. They would say that the President has failed to faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress, as he’s Constitutionally required to do, and they would be right to do so. That is exactly what is happening in our country today. President Obama has chosen unilaterally not to enforce our nation’s long-standing immigration laws. He has made this decision without any consultation with Congress.

“Think for a moment about the precedent this action sets,” he continued. “A president can alter long-standing law simply through an executive memo and his words. A president can simply say that he is not going to enforce the laws. That would be frightening to all Americans, regardless of political belief… (This) enters into new territory that, frankly, has never before been touched… This executive action is clearly not what the Founders had in mind when they drafted our Constitution. The main overriding goal of our forefathers was the prevent the executive from becoming too powerful. They went to great effort to ensure a strong system of checks and balances. President Obama’s executive action runs in the face of how our government is designed to operate.”

Byrne urged his colleagues in the House to take up legislation to address immigration issues, such as border security, the worker visa program and e-verify, but said all of those issues should be addressed before they even have a conversation about what to do with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.

“Early next year we should send the President real border security legislation, much like the border security legislation we passed in this House this past summer that the Senate wouldn’t even take up,” he said. “This House should pass legislation to update and fix the worker visa program. This House should pass legislation to put in place e-verify for all employers. This House should pass legislation to tighten internal security. Then, and only then, when we go through all of those pieces of legislation, should we even begin to discuss what we’re going to do about the millions of people who are in this country illegally.”