By John Kwapisz
Republicans unfairly took the brunt of the blame – thanks in no small part to a Democrat-abetting media – when the gears of the federal government ground to a halt over budgetary discord for 16 days in October 2013.
Some two years later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) faces a partial agency shutdown Saturday (Feb. 28). This time, there will be no question about which side bears the blame if that unfortunately occurs.
Democrats. Specifically, Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
They have been stonewalling attempts to conduct Congress’ business, in this case a vote on U.S. House of Representatives-approved legislation to continue funding DHS. Instead of doing their jobs, however, Senate Democrats have recklessly played politics with this necessary funding legislation for nonsensical reasons.
Even though it now appears a shutdown crisis may be averted, U.S. Senator Mark Warner still needs to hear from people like you who encourage him to be part of the immigration reform solution rather than the problem. You can find contact information for him here.
Senate Democrats to this point have blocked a vote simply to protect President Obama’s unconstitutional plan providing amnesty to millions of people illegally in this country. Mind you, Obama’s liberal take on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has already been legally rebuked by a federal judge from Texas. None of that seems to matter to Democrats. Nor does the potential furlough of thousands of DHS employees, of whom more than 13,000 are Virginians.
If Democrats aren’t swayed by rule of law, or the sacred oath of office they took, they should be by more concerned about the needs of their constituents than the plight of those unlawfully present in this country.
Permitting illegal aliens to remain in this country without fear of deportation grants them entry into the workforce of a still-recovering economy where jobs aren’t plentiful and competition is fierce. It is unfair to essentially confer on undocumented people job-seeking status equal to that of American citizens and legal immigrants who followed all the rules to gain entry into this country. That is even more egregious in an era when jobs are scarce.
Republicans and Democrats alike want comprehensive immigration reform. Achieving that requires good faith negotiations. An unconstitutional executive power grab by the Democrat in the White House, or parliamentary shenanigans by his U.S. Senate compatriots, only makes consensus on practical immigration reform more difficult.
More importantly, these actions seriously undermine our freedom protecting constitutional structure of separation of powers and encourage Obama to engage in even more dictatorial power grabs.
Please contact Senator Warner and Senator Tim Kaine and tell them the time for action on DHS funding legislation is now. Tell them millions of Virginians are counting on them to do their jobs and protect Americans.
John Kwapisz is a trained lawyer and legislative director of the Virginia Council for Immigration Reform
