The New York Times
In an address from the White House, President Obama is choosing confrontation over conciliation as he asserts the powers of the Oval Office to reshape the nation’s immigration system.
The president’s directive will shield up to five million people from deportation and allow many to work legally (and reportedly 90,000 in Arizona).
Related: Arizona will continue to deny licenses to immigrants
Arizona political leaders’ response to Obama’s executive action regarding immigration
Sheriff Joe Arpaio sues Obama over immigration moves
Statement from Governor Jan Brewer
“Not so long ago, President Obama rightly acknowledged that his role as president under the Constitution is to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ Publically and repeatedly he has rejected the suggestion of bypassing Congress to impose a de facto amnesty via executive order.
“Now, rather than work with Congress on a bipartisan solution to fix our immigration system and secure the border, he is once again taking brazen, unilateral action that will only further exacerbate the border problem – just as he did in 2012 when he signed an executive order to provide an amnesty to almost two million illegal aliens through his ‘Deferred Action’ plan.
“This is not a partisan issue. When the bluest of blue states – like Oregon, for example – vote overwhelmingly to prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining drivers licenses, it speaks volumes about the widespread lack of support for President Obama’s immigration policies. The American people have spoken, and time and again they have been ignored
“That President Obama refuses to visit our border, refuses to enforce our existing immigration laws and refuses to come to the table on an issue of such critical national safety and economic importance is a disgrace. We are a nation of laws, the most significant of which are written to ensure cooperation and balance among our branches of government. Separation of powers is what has distinguished us from other forms of government for 225 years. Over the past six years, this President has sought at every turn to move us toward a concentration of power, which, as President Reagan opined, ‘has always been the enemy of liberty.’ With controversial executive actions like that announced today, President Obama undermines our Constitution and erodes the fundamental principles upon which America was built.
“Clearly, the President is not interested in executing our laws, and even when he and his party had control of Congress and the White House, they did absolutely nothing to reform immigration. His new executive action sends a disturbing message about the way this President perceives his role as leader. When a president constantly refuses to enforce existing laws, disregards the will of the people and creates his own policies based on personal preferences, we shift from a nation of democracy to one of tyranny. In 1838, a profound man, Abraham Lincoln, prophetically warned the American people that a tyrant could overtake our political system from within, and that, ‘when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.’
“Evidently this President must be reminded that we, the American people, elected a president that serves beneath the law – we did not anoint a tyrannical king that is above the law.”
