Ted Yoho Offers Legislative Stop to Obama's Executive Order

U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., offered a bill on Thursday to prevent President Barack Obama from using an executive order to allow illegals a path to stay in the nation. Yoho insisted Obama was overstepping what the executive branch can do and hopes his Executive Amnesty Prevention Act" will cut him off at the pass.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 gives Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, while Article II, Section 3 lays out clearly that the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, Yoho noted about the Constitution. With the go-it-alone approach of the president on immigration, I felt it necessary to introduce this bill and stop the president from going around Congress and the American people. An executive fix of the law is unconstitutional, temporary, and will establish a very dangerous precedent.

Lets be clear: Our immigration policy in America is broken and has been broken for a long time, Yoho added. Both Republicans and Democrats share responsibility for the current state of immigration in this country. That being said, now is not the time for the president to rule by fiat and go against the Constitution. Even the Washington Post, never a bastion of conservative reporting, has recommended the president not take this course of action.

Yes, the president has prosecutorial discretion in certain cases but that does not mean he has the authority to provide blanket amnesty or pardons to 5 million illegal aliens, Yoho said in conclusion. I, along with the American people, want to fix our broken immigration system. But this fix must come from well-thought-out legislation that puts the needs of the country first. Once that is done, we can have open and honest debate in Congress to hammer out our differences. This is the way the framers of our Constitution intended our laws to be made. It is time to stop kicking the immigration can down the road. Let us come together, put the country first, and fix the issue of illegal immigration once and for all.