Sen. Grassley: Obama Going Behind Congress' Back On Immigration

By Adrianna McGinley

Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), argued Tuesday that the White House is improperly operating behind lawmakers’ backs on immigration policy.

The senator specifically questioned the motive and intention of a memo released by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in August calling to establish a working group to review the cases of hundreds of thousands of undocumented individuals.

“The Obama policies may be an impermissible intrusion on Congress’s plenary authority over immigration law,” Grassley said during an appearance before Judicial Watch, a “conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, [that] promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law”.

In September, Grassley and 18 other senators sent a letter to Obama requesting the new policies be rescinded and that Napolitano be made available to questioning by Congress. She is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“It will be our chance to conduct oversight over her department and their policies,” Grassley said. “You can be sure that prosecutorial discretion will come up. I also plan again, to express my concern with how this administration is enforcing the laws, and whether they are trying to find creative ways to keep as many illegal people in this country.”

Grassley also expressed concern over a memo released last summer giving “prosecutorial discretion” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and “gun walking” that took place under Operation Fast and Furious.

Under the controversial Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) operation, weapons were allowed to “walk” in to the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Two of these weapons were found at the scene of the December murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

“My motivation is to make sure nothing like this ever happens again, and get the truth for the Terry family as well as an untold number of Mexican citizens who may be victims as well,” Grassley said.

Border Patrol Should Be Implemented ASAP, Say Border State Governors

By Justine Rellosa- Talk Radio News Service

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) and Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) agreed Monday that border security should play a key role in immigration reform.

"You've got to have more border security," said Richardson during a Summit on free enterprise and job creation hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. "You need more equipment, more technology, border patrol."

Richardson added that the federal government should ultimately foot the bill for these costs.

"We added National Guard in New Mexico, but this is a federal responsibility and they have to pay for it."

During his remarks, Perry explained that border security should be the first goal of immigration reform.

"You cannot have a legitimate, intellectual conversation about immigration policy until you secure the border," Perry said.

Added the Texas Governor, "[Border security] will "singularly take care of a host of problems."

1.3 million illegal immigrants fled U.S.

A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) states that there was a significant decline in the illegal immigrant population over the past few months. At a news conference held by the Center today, Steven Camarota, the director of Research at CIS, said rates of legal immigration continued to rise unchanged, while the illegal immigrant population decline by 11 percent, or 1.3 million people.

Camarota gave two causes for this significant decline. First, he said increased illegal immigration enforcement deterred new people from entering, and caused some leave on their own. He pointed to how only the illegal immigrant population was affected, while the legal population was unaffected to explain the effectiveness of enforcement. Secondly, the poor state of the economy in the U.S. caused the population to decline as well. He said the statistically significant decline in illegal immigrant population means new enforcement measures are working well.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said the 11 percent decline is very significant, but warned against a possible increase in immigration when four laws against illegal immigration expire soon. Congressman Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) said the new report speaks highly of efforts in the past few years to "stand up" for the "rule of law" and reduce illegal immigration.