President Obama's Executive Overreach on Immigration
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PRESIDENT OBAMA’S EXECUTIVE OVERREACH ON IMMIGRATION HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION DECEMBER 2, 2014 Serial No. 113–120 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 91–545 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, Chairman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan Wisconsin JERROLD NADLER, New York HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina ROBERT C. ‘‘BOBBY’’ SCOTT, Virginia LAMAR SMITH, Texas ZOE LOFGREN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama STEVE COHEN, Tennessee DARRELL E. ISSA, California HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia Georgia STEVE KING, Iowa PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico TRENT FRANKS, Arizona JUDY CHU, California LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas TED DEUTCH, Florida JIM JORDAN, Ohio LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois TED POE, Texas KAREN BASS, California JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania SUZAN DelBENE, Washington TREY GOWDY, South Carolina JOE GARCIA, Florida RAU´ L LABRADOR, Idaho HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina DOUG COLLINS, Georgia RON DeSANTIS, Florida JASON T. SMITH, Missouri [Vacant] SHELLEY HUSBAND, Chief of Staff & General Counsel PERRY APELBAUM, Minority Staff Director & Chief Counsel (II) C O N T E N T S DECEMBER 2, 2014 Page OPENING STATEMENTS The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, and Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary ................................. 1 The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ......... 4 The Honorable Lamar Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ........................................ 23 The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................. 24 WITNESSES Ronald D. Rotunda, Doy and Dee Henley Chair and Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Chapman University, Dale E. Fowler School of Law Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 36 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 38 Jay Alan Sekulow, Chief Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 58 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 60 Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 72 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 74 Marielena Hincapie´, Executive Director, National Immigration Law Center Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 79 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 81 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Material submitted by the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................................... 5 Additional Material submitted by the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Rep- resentative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................ 9 Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 27 Prepared Statement of the Honorable J. Randy Forbes, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................................................................................... 34 Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 109 Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 117 Material submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 145 (III) IV Page Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 151 Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 162 Material submitted by the Honorable Ted Deutch, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of Florida, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ... 172 APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD List of Material submitted by the Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................................................................................... 189 Prepared Statement of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans .......... 190 Prepared Statement of Dorotea Mendez, Community Leader, Texas Orga- nizing Poject (TOP) .............................................................................................. 191 PRESIDENT OBAMA’S EXECUTIVE OVERREACH ON IMMIGRATION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:52 p.m., in room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Bob Goodlatte (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Goodlatte, Sensenbrenner, Coble, Smith of Texas, Chabot, Bachus, Issa, Forbes, King, Franks, Gohmert, Jordan, Poe, Marino, Gowdy, Labrador, Farenthold, Holding, Col- lins, DeSantis, Smith of Missouri, Conyers, Nadler, Scott, Lofgren, Jackson Lee, Cohen, Johnson, Pierluisi, Chu, Deutch, Gutierrez, Bass, Richmond, DelBene, Garcia, Jeffries, Cicilline. Staff Present: (Majority) Shelley Husband, Chief of Staff & Gen- eral Counsel; Branden Ritchie, Deputy Chief of Staff & Chief Coun- sel; Allison Halatei, Parliamentarian & General Counsel; George Fishman, Counsel; Kelsey Deterding, Clerk; (Minority) Perry Apelbaum, Minority Staff Director & Chief Counsel; Danielle Brown, Parliamentarian; and Tom Jawetz, Counsel. Mr. GOODLATTE. Good afternoon. This hearing of the Judiciary Committee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is au- thorized to declare recesses of the Committee at any time. We welcome everyone to this morning’s hearing on President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration, and I will begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. But I also want to point out to the Members and to the audience in attendance today, you are all welcome to be here, but Rule 11 of the House rules pro- vides that the Chairman of the Committee may punish breaches of order and decorum by censure and exclusion from the hearing. President Obama has just announced one of the biggest constitu- tional power grabs ever by a President. He has declared unilater- ally that by his own estimation almost 5 million unlawful immi- grants will be free from the legal consequences of their lawless ac- tions. Not only that, he will in addition bestow upon them gifts such as work authorization and other immigration benefits. This, despite the fact that President Obama has stated over 20 times in the past that he doesn’t have the constitutional power to take such steps on his own and has repeatedly stated that ‘‘I’m not a king.’’ We will now ask that the video be rolled. [Video shown.] (1) 2 Mr. GOODLATTE. As The Washington Post’s own fact checker con- cluded, ‘‘Apparently he’s changed his mind.’’ President Obama ad- mitted last week that ‘‘I just took an action to change the law,’’ and, I should add, a jewelled crown worthy of King James of Eng- land who precipitated