Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Thank you for yielding. Thank you to
the chairman, and to my colleague from Arizona, Congressman Salmon, for
your work on this legislation and this amendment.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of the Salmon-Thompson amendment.

President Obama's recent expansion of the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, protects a large number of unlawfully
present aliens from deportation.

In addition to constitutional concerns and national security
implications, Madam Chair, the action poses a range of unintended
consequences.

Case in point: the President's policy creates an incentive to hire
illegal immigrants over lawfully present workers. Illegal aliens who
are granted deferred action are exempt from being counted under the
2010 health care law's employer mandate, which requires employers with
50 or more employees to offer health insurance or pay a penalty.

Essentially, the President has created a situation where employers
face a penalty for hiring Americans over illegal aliens.

Madam Chairman, the President's current deferred action expansion
promotes the hiring of individuals who have broken the law over the men
and women who have come through legal channels, worked hard, and played by the rules.

Congressman Salmon and I are proud to offer this commonsense
amendment. The amendment merely states that it is the sense of Congress
that this administration should not pursue any actions that put the
interests of illegal immigrants before U.S. workers.

I encourage all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote
``yes'' on the Salmon-Thompson amendment.

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