Immigration Enforcement. During consideration of the fiscal 2013 Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 5855), Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced an amendment “to prohibit the use of funds to be used to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce” Immigration and Customs Enforcement memos (known as the Morton memos) regarding prosecutorial discretion to prioritize the removal of certain illegal immigrants.
A few weeks after the vote on this amendment, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) sent U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder a letter demanding answers regarding the administration’s use of prosecutorial discretion, often referred to as “administrative amnesty,” to certain illegal aliens up to the age of 30. Barletta wrote: “When similar measures that would implement these same policies were presented to Congress, Congress rejected them. The implementation of the new immigration policy that is contrary to the expressed will of the Congress violates the Constitution.”
The House adopted King’s amendment on June 7, 2012 by a vote of 238 to 175 (Roll Call 363). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the Obama administration’s use of prosecutorial discretion to provide amnesty to illegal immigrants violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers. According to Article I, Section 1, “all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” In particular, Congress is granted the power “to establish a uniform rule of naturalization” in Article I, Section 8. In contrast, Article II, Section 3 states that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
