Jeff Sessions: Boehner Group's Border Plan an 'Institutional Surrender' to Obama's 'Planned Illegality'

by Matthew Boyle

Jul 23, 2014 2:21 PM PT

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), an immigration hawk, shredded House Speaker John Boehner's working group border crisis recommendations in a Wednesday afternoon statement, calling Boehner’s plan an “institutional surrender to the planned illegality” of President Barack Obama.

“The border crisis is the direct and predictable result of the President’s sustained policies undermining America’s immigration laws,” Sessions said in his statement on the Boehner working group proposal. 

Sessions said:

The President’s continued determination to carry out this nullification remains the singular obstacle in the way of restoring lawfulness. It is therefore odd that the House working group did not mention President Obama even once in their released findings. Indeed, they made no mention of the President’s threat of sweeping new executive actions. Multiple reports indicate that these imminent actions are likely to take the form of administrative amnesty and work permits for 5-6 million illegal immigrants. Any attempt at improving the border situation would be rendered utterly void if the President follows through on his dramatic nullification acts. How can Congress ignore this brewing constitutional crisis? In fact, granting the President new funds without tackling these orders would be an institutional surrender to the planned illegality.

Sessions expressed disgust with how Boehner’s working group plan, drafted by Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), seems to allow any person who enters the United States illegally an asylum hearing.

“The document also appears to cement the idea that anyone who shows up unlawfully at our border is presumptively entitled to an asylum hearing in the United States,” Sessions said. “This cannot be so. We cannot allow unjustified claims of asylum to overwhelm our system. Also, because the working group does not explicitly demand a narrowing of the conditions for asylum, the end result of their plan may paradoxically be that more illegal immigrants are eventually granted asylum—enticing even greater numbers to arrive on the promise of speedy grants of lawful status.”

Sessions continued by noting that he has serious concerns with the border security provisions in the Boehner working group’s recommendations. 

“The document calls for President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security to develop a ‘strategy’ and ‘plan’ to secure the border, which is less than what is actually required to do under current law,” Sessions said. “Meanwhile, it omits any discussion of restoring collapsed interior enforcement. If portions of this plan are as similar to the Gang of Eight bill as they appear to be, it could open the door to substantial legislative mischief in the Senate. With only days before Congress’ planned adjournment, a better strategy would be to focus on blocking the President’s threat of new executive actions—and insist that he enforce current laws—while these complex proposals are studied and revisited.”

Sessions also noted that he is upset that Boehner’s working group makes no mention of the effects this border crisis is having on American citizens, and instead seemingly focuses entirely on how to help the illegal aliens.

“Finally, it is curious that the proposal makes no mention of the needs of Americans. Yes, this is a humanitarian crisis,” Sessions said. “But it is also a legal crisis. And so too is it a crisis for the American people who have begged and pleaded for a lawful system of immigration that serves their interests, protects their jobs, and increases their wages. Republicans should not be timid or apologetic, but present a bold defense of the American people. The House GOP has so far been the last bulwark protecting working Americans; it would be tragic for that defense to buckle in the closing days of this Congress.”

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