Opening Statement

Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.
Hearing on:  President Obama's Executive Action on Immigration
Full Committee

Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 1:00 P.M.
2141 Rayburn Building

     When the president decided two weeks ago to use his authority under existing law to do what he can to fix our broken immigration system I could not have been more proud.  I defy any of my colleagues on this committee–or anyone in Congress–to tell me our immigration system is not broken.  We know it is.  First, I am disappointed that this Congress, like many before it, has done nothing to fix the problem.

     Republican leaders in the House won’t allow us to vote on a bipartisan bill (S. 744) that passed the Senate last year with 68 votes.  This committee has marked up a series of bills–each one worse than the next–but hasn’t even reported them to the Floor.  The only bills we have seen on the Floor would have deported Dreamers and the parents of U.S. citizen children and denied basic protections to children fleeing violence and persecution.

     Second, faced with this congressional inaction, the president decided it was time to take action.  The president’s reforms will help to secure the border, focus our resources on deporting felons not families, and require undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay their fair share of taxes in order to register for temporary protection from deportation.  These actions will keep millions of families with U.S. citizen children from being torn apart–families led by hardworking mothers and fathers.

     Finally, these actions are not only appropriate, but lawful.  There is a great deal of information available publicly to support the president.  On November 20, 11 prominent legal scholars wrote a letter explaining that the president’s actions "are within the power of the Executive Branch and that they represent a lawful exercise of the President’s authority."  The letter was signed by a former head of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and a person who worked in the solicitor general’s office.  It was signed by liberal professors like Laurence Tribe and conservative professors like Eric Posner.  Five days later, 135 immigration law professors echoed that conclusion and provided substantial constitutional, statutory, and regulatory authority for these actions.  That letter also reviews the historical precedents that support the president’s move.

     Several days ago, two former general counsels of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and two former chief counsels of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service wrote to the chairman and me to associate themselves with the legal analysis of those 135 professors.  As people who were once charged with provided legal counsel to the federal government on this precise question, they write that "we have all studied the relevant legal parameters and wish to express our collective view that the president’s actions are well within his legal authority."  And of course the administration requested a formal opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel and made that document public nearly two weeks ago.

     I ask unanimous consent to enter all four items into the record. I know that many members on the other side of the aisle are unhappy about the president’s decision.  We continue to hear calls for shutting down the government.  Some have talked about censuring the president or doing even worse.  But it seems to me that the majority now has a choice.  They can do what we were elected to do.  They can come to the table and work to pass a real immigration reform bill.  They can hold a vote.  That is what I am prepared to do.