U.S. Representative Steve King Calls for Congressional Hearings Into Executive Amnesty; Lamar Smith: Obama Policy “Troublesome”

In response to Janet Napolitano’s August 18 announcement that the Department of Homeland Security has created an interagency working group charged with a case-by-case review of all illegal aliens currently in removal proceedings, Congressman Steve King (R-IA) yesterday released the following statement that calls for Congressional hearings into the Obama administration's action to grant executive amnesty to those aliens:

"The President of the United States and all his federal appointees take an oath to the Constitution that requires that they 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Our laws are to be enforced faithfully, not ignored or defied by the very people whose job it is to enforce them. I am calling for Congressional hearings on the Obama administration to put the President and all his cabinet members on notice that neither Congress nor the American people will tolerate such contempt for their own oath, the Constitution and the Rule of Law."

King added:

"This is the latest example of the Obama administration acting as if it does not have to enforce laws if it finds those laws to be inconvenient. I will be insisting on Congressional hearings so that President Obama's appointees will have to answer questions under oath about their use of executive amnesty to reward immigration lawbreakers with the objective of their crime."

House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith also weighed in against Obama’s administrative amnesty. Appearing on San Antonio’s  WOIA radio station, Smith told listeners:

"[Pres. Obama] believes in a super-powerful, centralized federal government and that is what he wants whether or not Congress goes along and whether or not the American people go along … That’s fine if you don’t live in a democracy. It’s not fine in the United States of America where he has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and the law and not just to pick and choose which laws to enforce. He needs, as president of the United States, to make sure all laws are faithfully executed and that is really troublesome."

These are encouraging signs that Obama’s unconstitutional policy to circumvent immigration enforcement laws will be vigorously challenged.