BY LINDA BENTLEY | NOVEMBER 26, 2014
Arpaio sues to halt Obama’s ‘amnesty by fiat’
‘This prayer for relief does not request legal authority for Arpaio to enforce the immigration laws of the United States …’
WASHINGTON – On Nov. 20, Attorney Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch filed a complaint on behalf of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio against President Barack Obama, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Director Leon Rodriguez and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asserting their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program from June 15, 2012 and the Nov. 20, 2014 Executive Order Amnesty (EOA) programs are “unconstitutional abuses of the president’s role in our nation’s constitutional architecture and exceed the powers of the president within the U.S. Constitution.”
The complaint states even if the court were to deem DACA and EOA constitutional, such exercises of delegated law-making authority by the executive branch must first go through rigid rule-making procedures under the Administrative Procedures Act, adding, “The president cannot simply announce sweeping new rules and implement them by giving a speech.”
Arpaio seeks a declaratory judgment along with preliminary and permanent injunctions, while challenging the executive branch action under the District of Columbia Circuit Court’s Nondelegation Doctrine.
The complaint notes Obama has already supposedly granted amnesty, the status of lawful presence in the United States, as well as the right to legally work in the United States to 611,953 (as reported by CIS in a March 2014 report) illegal aliens classified as “Dreamers” who arrived in the country with their parents illegally.
Citing INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983), the complaint calls DACA and EOA unconstitutional in the same manner as Chadha, “because instead of legislation first passing both houses of Congress and then being sent to the president under the ‘Presentment Clause’ for signature and implementation or veto, the president originates legislation by himself and then dares the Congress to disagree.”
The complaint states Obama has repeatedly admitted and acknowledged the amnesty he is now attempting to grant illegal aliens is illegal and/or unconstitutional and quotes Obama from a Feb. 14, 2013 internet town hall with young voters on “Google hangout,” in which he stated, “The problem is that, you know, I am the president of the United States. I am not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed. And Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system. And what that means is that we have certain obligations to enforce the laws that are in place even if we think that in many cases the results may be tragic.”
The complaint cites several other occasions during which Obama stated he is unable to do what he is now doing because he would be “ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally.”
Obama stated there is a path to get this done and that it is through Congress.
Noting border states are under invasion by violent criminals acting across an unsecured border and subject to domestic violence from a foreign invasion, the complaint states Arpaio is adversely affected and harmed in his office’s finances, workload and interference with the conduct of his duties by the failure of the executive branch to enforce existing immigration laws and has been severely affected by increases in the influx of illegal aliens motivated by Obama’s policies of offering amnesty.
According to the complaint, Obama’s actions have shifted the financial burden of illegal aliens crossing the border from the federal government to border states, while experience has proven as an empirical fact that millions more illegal aliens will be attracted into border states, regardless of the specific details.
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) records reveal many illegal aliens are repeat offenders, whereas MCSO deputies and other law enforcement officials have arrested the same illegal aliens for various different crimes.
And, while Arpaio’s office has turned over to ICE at least 4,000 illegal aliens from his jails convicted of state crimes during just an eight-month period, 36 percent return after committing new crimes.
The complaint claims Obama has ordered “amnesty by fiat” by announcing new programs and initiatives to grant millions of illegal aliens amnesty with lawful status and the authorization to work in the United States, which Arpaio says will stimulate a new flood of illegal aliens to cross the United States-Mexican border.
Arpaio is asking the court to enter a preliminary restraining order until the court can hold a hearing to halt implementation of the DACA and EOA programs, “because it will cause irreversible harm by encouraging more illegal aliens to enter the country unlawfully because of news of amnesty, inducing illegal aliens in the country to alter their circumstances in reliance on the amnesty programs, and creating new relationships and circumstances difficult to unravel if the amnesty programs are found to be unlawful, as it will result in the release of more criminal aliens onto the streets of Maricopa County and the United States as a whole.”
He further requests the court enter a preliminary injunction to halt implementation until the court can hear all parties and issue a decision and enter a permanent injunction declaring amnesty programs to be unlawful.
In its conclusion, the complaint emphasizes in boldface type: “This prayer for relief does not request legal authority for Arpaio to enforce the immigration laws of the United States, as current legal precedent has found that he and other similarly situated state law enforcement and other officials have no authority to do.”
