By M.H. Cavanaugh
Christian Action League
December 5, 2014
RALEIGH – A multistate coalition of governors and state’s attorneys generals are suing the United States Government and immigration agencies in order to stop the President’s executive action to provide amnesty for nearly 5 million people living illegally in the country. Governor Pat McCrory’s press office announced Wednesday he was joining the legal challenge.
“The president has exceeded the balance of power provisions clearly laid out in the U.S. Constitution and his unilateral expansion of power must be challenged,” Governor McCrory said. “In North Carolina, the 10th most populous state, the president’s actions are likely to put even more financial strain on our state’s government services. It’s disappointing that the president has shown little regard for states which must shoulder the costs of his actions.”
The lawsuit is being spearheaded by Texas Governor-Elect Greg Abbott. Abbot, formerly the Attorney General of Texas, argues that the President’s executive action “tramples” parts of the U.S. Constitution.
The legal challenge claims the President violated the Take Care Clause (Article II, Section 3, Clause 5) of the U.S. Constitution that instructs that the President must “take care” that the laws passed by the Congress are faithfully executed. Second, it maintains the President essentially rewrote immigration law under the guise of executive discretion. Third, it asserts that the Constitution (Article I, Section 8 Clause 4) give Congress, not the executive branch, the authority to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.
The lawsuit further argues the President has violated the Administrative Procedure Act by issuing guidance from the office of Homeland Security that essentially makes a law via decree creating new federal rights, duties and obligations. The APA requires that regulations must be publicly noticed, made available for public comment and subject to judicial review.
House Majority Leader John Boehner has said the U.S. House lead by a Republican majority may vote to undo the President’s executive action on immigration. That move, however, would mostly be symbolic, as the Democratic-led Senate would never pass it, and the President would only veto it.
“Immigration is an extremely thorny issue in America. Even Christians are widely divided on the subject,” said Dr. Mark Creech, executive Director of the Christian Action League.
“The Scriptures command that we not to wrong or oppress the sojourner, for God’s people, the Israelites were strangers in Egypt. Still, we need an immigration policy that will assure that the people who cross our borders will make a positive contribution. Do these people coming here in undocumented droves demonstrate they either possess or will acquire by legal means sufficient education and training to support themselves? Certainly not! We should also exclude those who have criminal records, communicable diseases, or who by some evidence show they would not make an overall positive contribution to the advancement of this nation. I speak in broad generalities, I realize. There is so much more to the issue. But my concern is that the President shows an egregious hubris by acting on his own – essentially saying by his action that he alone knows the way these sticky matters should be resolved. Regardless of whether one approves of the content of the President’s executive order, it’s too much! It’s a lawless act, smacking of despotism! It is not the American way and it should be resisted by every legal and constitutional means. An imperial Presidency can be worse than amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants,” said Dr. Creech.
Governor McCrory said the lawsuit against the President’s executive order was about upholding the rule of law and the Constitution, “which is why North Carolina must join with its fellow states to stop this expansion of presidential power,” he added.
The federal lawsuit involves the following states: Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.