New year, same old story. Sen. Ted Cruz is already rallying GOP troops to torpedo Obama's initiative to provide deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants,
reports Politico.
Cruz & Co. hope to force Obama's hand by choking off funding to the agency responsible for implementing immigration policy, the Department of Homeland Security. It's a funding fight Republicans saved for late February in anticipation of having total control of Congress. Here's Cruz:
“If Republicans stand united in January or February and use the constitutional check and balance, the power of the purse, to stop President Obama’s illegal amnesty, nobody will be happier than I.”
Actually, Ted, it seems there are people happier than you about the idea of the GOP alienating Latino voters for a generation to come while accomplishing nothing.
“The idea that a partial shutdown of DHS is going to get Obama to cave on a signature second-term accomplishment is fantasy,” said Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice. “It’s much more likely that the politics will blow up in the face of Republicans, and that they’ll be seen by Latinos and immigrants as hostile.”
Immigration advocates will likely not be disappointed. House Republicans are already eyeing a separate bill that would block Obama's actions, potentially for a vote later this month. Obama would surely veto any such legislation.
Please read below the fold for more on the GOP's immigration plans.
Then DHS funding runs out on Feb. 27, which will provide a fresh opportunity for debate. But even if the GOP succeeded in closing the agency, the vast majority of government workers who handle immigration are funded by processing fees that applicants pay, not the federal government.
"Roughly 85 percent of DHS employees continued to work during the October 2013 shutdown for those reasons, according to the Congressional Research Service. … U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that will implement the heart of Obama’s executive actions – deferred deportations and new work permits for potentially millions of undocumented immigrants – is almost entirely fee-funded, so its staffers will continue working right through a shutdown.
"Shutting down" DHS is a fool's errand, much like the 2013 government shutdown was. We all know how that went for the GOP/Cruz.
The only real hiccup for President Obama's immigration initiatives lies in the courts.
The wildcard factor in all this is a lawsuit filed by 24 states, led by Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott, challenging Obama’s executive actions. (Tennessee has also indicated that it plans to join the case.) A hearing will be held Jan. 9 on the states’ request for a preliminary injunction.
The White House and immigration advocates adamantly believe the president is standing on firm legal ground. A ruling in the case could come any time in the next few months.