Sessions: Obama displacing US servicemembers by recruiting illegal immigrants for military

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September 26, 2014

With an unprecedented illegal immigration crisis raging, the President announces not enforcement actions to reduce illegality, but yet one more in an endless series of executive actions to further undermine immigration law. Once more, he has taken unilateral executive action that signals to the world that our borders are not being enforced.

The President is launching a new effort to recruit illegal immigrants and visa overstays for the military at a time when thousands of career military personnel are facing layoffs—meaning that the President’s recruitment program will directly displace American military personnel. Military service is a high calling, and a noble career, and is most certainly not a job Americans won’t do.

The President has further pledged that, following the midterm elections, he will issue a sweeping executive amnesty for 5–6 million illegal immigrants and visa overstays. This executive amnesty will include work authorization, taking precious jobs directly from American workers at a time when 28.9 million Americans in their prime working years (25–54) don’t have a job.

In our economy, like our military, we have a shortage of jobs—not a shortage of workers.

Instead of circumventing the law to eliminate our immigration controls, any President who cares about the rule of law would instead be taking lawful, constitutional executive actions to restore those laws and end the illegality. Here are just a few of the concrete, lawful steps the President is duty-bound to undertake:

· Complete the border fence that Congress has previously passed into law;

· Create the exit-entry system to track foreign visa-holders, which Congress has repeatedly mandated;

· Cancel visas to any country that won’t take back its own citizens;

· Stop the improper issuance of billions of dollars in child tax credits to illegal immigrants,

· Enforce the currently un-enforced public charge rule for immigrants to the U.S., both legal and illegal;

· Crack down on abuse of the H-1B guest worker program that is displacing U.S. workers;

· Increase, don’t reduce, prosecutions under the proven Operation Streamline;

· Instead of suing states that are trying to enforce the law, target sanctuary cities that are defying the law; and

· Cancel all meetings with pro-amnesty groups to plot executive amnesty, and instead meet with Chris Crane, Ken Palinkas, and Chris Cabrera (of ICE, USCIS, and Border Patrol). Instead of ordering them not to do their jobs, sit down with them ask what they need to end the lawlessness and restore integrity to our nation’s immigration system.

Jeff Sessions represents the State of Alabama in the United States Senate. Follow him on Twitter @SenatorSessions.