http://www.nationalreview.com/article/384920/amnesty-impeachment-bait-charles-krauthammer
Amnesty as Impeachment Bait
The president’s breathtakingly cynical plan to ward off a midterm shellacking
“I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books. . . . Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the [immigration] laws on my own. . . . That’s not how our Constitution is written” (July 25, 2011).
”This notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. . . . There are laws on the books that I have to enforce” (September 28, 2011).
“If, in fact, I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so. But we’re also a nation of laws” (November 25, 2013).
The president’s breathtakingly cynical plan to ward off a midterm shellacking
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President Obama is impatient. Congress won’t act on immigration, he says, and therefore he will. The White House is coy as to exactly what the president will do. But the leaks point to an executive order essentially legalizing an enormous new class of illegal immigrants, perhaps up to 5 million people.
One doesn’t usually respond to rumors. But this is an idea so bad and so persistently peddled by the White House that it has already been preemptively criticized by such unusual suspects as (liberal) constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, concerned about yet another usurpation of legislative power by the “uber presidency,” and the Washington Post editorial page, which warned that such a move would “tear up the Constitution.”
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Third, and most fatal, it is deeply unconstitutional. Don’t believe me. Listen to Obama. He’s repeatedly made the case for years. As in:
“I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books. . . . Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the [immigration] laws on my own. . . . That’s not how our Constitution is written” (July 25, 2011).”This notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. . . . There are laws on the books that I have to enforce” (September 28, 2011).“If, in fact, I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so. But we’re also a nation of laws” (November 25, 2013).
Laws created by Congress, not by executive fiat. That’s what distinguishes a constitutional republic from the banana kind.
Moreover, Obama had control of both houses of Congress during his first two years in office — and did nothing about immigration. So why now?
Because he’s facing a disastrous midterm election. An executive order so sweeping and egregiously lawless would be impeachment bait. It would undoubtedly provoke a constitutional crisis and stir impeachment talk — and perhaps even the beginning of proceedings — thus scrambling the electoral deck. As in 1998, it would likely backfire against the GOP and save Democrats from an otherwise certain sixth-year midterm shellacking.
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http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/07/border-patrol-agent-federal-government-releasing-murderers-into-us/
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http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/07/Feds-Bend-CDC-Rules-for-Sick-Illegal-Immigrants
HOUSTON, Texas -- Individuals and families immigrating to the U.S. legally are required to pay for and undergo medical examinations by approved physicians; those who are deemed as having "inadmissible health-related conditions" are not allowed into the country. But the same standards are not applied to illegal immigrants, many of whom remain in the U.S. despite testing positive for diseases that would prevent law-abiding migrants from entering.
The current border crisis has involved tens of thousands of Central Americans entering the U.S. illegally. Some of these individuals have tested positive for illnesses including tuberculosis, chicken pox, and other viruses--despite this, most of them are not immediately deported. Rather, they stay and receive medical care subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet--a preventive medicine physician, the former Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, and a recipient of a 2014 Ellis Island Medal of Honor--told Breitbart Texas, "Legal immigrants are required to pay for medical exams and screening tests conducted by approved physicians before they arrive here. They're not arriving in the U.S. carrying diseases, and then being dispersed into cities across the nation."
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all legal immigrants must be screened and approved before entering the U.S. The agency states on its website, "The health-related grounds for inadmissibility include persons who have a communicable disease of public health significance, who fail to present documentation of having received vaccination against vaccine-preventable diseases, who have or have had a physical or mental disorder with associated harmful behavior, or who are a drug abuser or an addict."
But the same rules apparently do not apply to illegal immigrants.
According to Vliet, "vaccine-preventable" diseases include chicken pox, an infection common among the new wave of Latin American illegal immigrants.
So, while a prospective legal immigrant who has not been vaccinated for chicken pox would be barred from entering the U.S., unvaccinated individuals who enter the country illegally are being allowed to stay. "The CDC's own guidelines are clearly being violated with regards to the illegal immigrants currently crossing the border," Vliet stated.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-usa-immigration-worries-idUSKBN0G70BE20140807
(Reuters) - As President Barack Obama considers sidestepping Congress to loosen U.S. immigration policy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Americans are deeply worried that illegal immigration is threatening the nation's culture and economy.
Seventy percent of Americans - including 86 percent of Republicans - believe undocumented immigrants threaten traditional U.S. beliefs and customs, according to the poll.
The findings suggest immigration could join Obamacare - the healthcare insurance overhaul - and the economy as hot button issues that encourage more Republicans to vote in November's congressional election.
With Congress failing to agree on broad immigration reforms, Obama could act alone in the next few weeks to give work permits to up to 5 million undocumented immigrants and delay some deportations, according to media reports.
Hispanic and liberal voters would welcome that, but the online survey suggests much of the rest of the nation may not.
Despite arguments from the White House and groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that legal immigration benefits business, 63 percent of people in the online survey also said immigrants place a burden on the economy.
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http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/06/DOJ-Regions-Near-Mexico-Border-Most-Crime-Ridden-in-US
HOUSTON, Texas -- About half of the nation's federal criminal cases last year were filed in regions near the U.S.-Mexico border, according to an alarming annual report from the Obama Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ).
During FY 2013, U.S. Attorney's offices filed a total of 61,529 criminal cases against defendants, according to the DOJ. Regions along the border each had more convictions than in any other district. 6,341 cases were filed in Western Texas, suggesting it is home to the country's most severe crime patterns. 6,130 cases were filed in Southern Texas; 4,848 were filed in Southern California; 3,889 were filed in New Mexico; and 3,538 were filed in Arizona.
Judicial Watch pointed out that out of the 94 U.S. federal court districts, the five near the Mexico border "see a large portion of criminal cases. ... [and] also have the biggest number of defendants actually convicted of federal crimes."
The most common crimes committed over the year were immigration related, with 23,744 such cases having been filed by the feds. Judicial Watch pointed out that immigration crimes accounted for 38.6 percent of all federal cases.
Drug-related crimes were also common, with 13,383 such cases having been filed in FY 2013.
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