Newsletter: Dave's Weekly Wrap - November 25, 2014

Statement

Friends,

As you likely saw, this week President Obama went around Congress by announcing an executive action on immigration reform, offering protection from deportation to nearly 5 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in our country.

In the elections earlier this month, throughout Ohio and across the nation the people spoke with a loud and unified voice against the President's policies and for the partisan gridlock to end. The voters made it clear it is time for the White House to work together with Congress to get things done in DC.

So, it was my hope that the President would recognize the wishes of the American people, and begin to actually sit down and work with us in Congress going forward. Unfortunately, he has circumvented Congress with his unilateral executive action and quickly made it clear he has no desire to work with us.

As a former prosecutor, I believe firmly in the rule of law, and we certainly need to change the laws of our broken immigration system. However, as our founding fathers laid out, these changes must come from Congress, and not by an overreaching President.

As a practical matter, securing our borders and enforcing the law needs to be the first of these changes when it comes to immigration reform. On an average day, our border patrol seizes 11,945 pounds of drugs, conducts 1,153 apprehensions between ports of entry, arrests 22 wanted criminals and seizes $4.7 million in intellectual property rights violations. This is a shocking breach of national security. In the House, we passed a $700 million border bill to secure our borders and to help fix President Obama's border crisis.

Unfortunately, the President's decision to act on his own does not secure our borders. Further, his executive action will likely make our border less secure as more immigrants will be encouraged to enter the country illegally to reap the benefits of this executive action.

This is just one reason why this unilateral action by the President is disappointing and discouraging. In order for Democracy to work, Congress and White House need to be able to work together to come up with real changes and real solutions to the real problems facing our country. Unfortunately, the President has definitively signaled he has no real desire to work with us in Congress these next two years.

You elected me to bring Northeast Ohio common sense to Washington and I will continue to approach this issue in a practical manner. I am ready to work with anyone make real reforms to our broken immigration system and welcome your feedback on this important issue.

Source