Sessions: Congress Must Not Fund an Executive Amnesty That’s Been Blocked by a Federal Judge

Alabama senator Jeff Sessions says Congress must respect the injunction that blocks President Obama’s executive amnesty, which was issued by a federal judge for the Southern District of Texas. Sessions, the Republican chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, says he believes the court’s ruling is an affirmation that the president’s executive actions on immigration are illegal.

“The President has acted unconstitutionally, and it is the President — not Congress — who must back down,” Sessions says in a statement. “We cannot and must not establish the precedent that we will fund illegal actions on the hope that another branch of government will intervene and strike down that illegal action at some later point.”

Sessions adds that the GOP should remain committed to passing legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security, while withholding funding for enforcement of the executive amnesty. He claims that Obama has already shut down DHS by ordering immigration officers to disobey the law, and adds that a Democratic filibuster is the only thing preventing Republicans from restoring proper order. He is calling on Congress to reassert its authority as a coequal branch of government, and use its power of the purse to stand up to Obama.