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Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 4, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Constitution Executive Branch Immigration

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the President is not changing the law, he is exercising Presidential prosecutorial choice. The very fact that only 400,000 people a year can be deported when there are admittedly 11 million undocumented people in this country says you have to make choices.

I didn't see anyone on that side of the aisle demand that President Bush--or President Obama, for that matter--deport all 11 million people and propose the appropriation to enable that to be done. Failing that, there must be choices. The President must choose.

I will not repeat all of the legal arguments that we have heard over the last hour that the President has it well within his power to make these choices. Discretion happens--400,000 against 11 million--discretion happens.

Making that discretion systematic and sensible, prioritizing it, doesn't change the law. The Republicans admit the law is broken, but they haven't brought any bills to this floor in 4 years, and they have ignored the bipartisan Senate bill, so the President must act and that he acts within his power is good.

Finally, I must comment on the remarks of Mr. Barletta who says--and I have heard other people say it--that the undocumented aliens--or the documented aliens, for that matter--pose a threat to American jobs.

The fact is they do jobs that other people don't want, and more to the point, what poses a threat to American living standards is the fact that they can't enforce standards. The fact that an undocumented alien can't complain to an enforcement agency when he is paid below minimum wage or when he is exploited, that reduces wage levels for everyone.

If you want to help wage levels for American workers, let the undocumented people who are here and who are going to stay here, let them come out of the shadows, pass a comprehensive bill, let them work legally, and enforce the minimum wage law. It will benefit all American workers.

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