Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls, including presumed frontrunner Jeb Bush, have lined up in support of U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s temporary restraining order stopping government officials from implementing President Obama's immigration program granting de facto amnesty to up to 5 million illegal aliens.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has warned that the injunction requested by Texas and 25 other states makes it illegal for the Department of Homeland Security to spend any money on the plan while former Texas Gov. Rick Perry hailed the decision as a "turning point" and a "victory for the rule of law."
According to a survey by the Heritage Foundation's Daily Signal, Bush, who in the past has embraced a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, issued a carefully worded statement on his Facebook page.
"Last year, the president overstepped his executive authority and, in turn, hurt the effort toward a commonsense immigration solution. That’s not leadership. The millions of families affected across the country deserve better," he said.
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"Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to work with Congress to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system."
The Daily Signal noted there was no reaction to the Texas judge's ruling from Hillary Rodham Clinton or any other Democratic hopeful.
However, Jorge Ramos, nightly news co-anchor for the Spanish-language television channel Univision, posted on Twitter that the ruling would be a political issue for Hispanic voters:
"The Texas decision clearly defines who is against immigrants in the U.S. Latino voters will remember; 2016 is not that far away."
As WND was first to report and as a federal judge has now has confirmed, Obama did not formally enact his highly controversial plan to delay deportation for up to 5 million illegal aliens in the U.S. through executive orders, as widely believed. Instead, he relied on a memorandum signed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
Hanen's Feb. 16 order highlighted the fact, reported by WND, that the Johnson memorandum was not filed with the Federal Register, as required by law, to give public notice and allow for comments.
The failure to register the memo could ultimately kill Obama's delayed deportation program, as Hanen has argued the omission is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Most of those who qualify for Obama's amnesty are illegal-alien parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Also, illegal aliens who were brought to the U.S. as children, "Dreamers," would benefit. The amnesty for Dreamers was created in 2012, but Obama's action in November expands it.
Meanwhile, the Mexican Foreign Ministry, objecting to the ruling, said its citizens who are living illegally in the U.S. have earned the right to stay.
“These programs are a just remedy for millions of families and have the potential to strengthen the important contributions that Mexican immigrants make to the American economy and society,” the ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Mexico vowed to continue providing illegal aliens in the U.S. with documents so they will be ready if Hanen lifts the order.
In her weekly column Wednesday, Ann Coulter excoriated Republican leaders in Congress for enjoying historic gains in the 2014 midterms based largely on opposition to amnesty yet claiming now their hands are tied.
She pointed out Obama's executive actions will give illegal aliens Social Security cards and three years of back-payments through the Earned Income Tax Credit, even though they never paid taxes.
"If a Republican majority in both houses of Congress can't stop Obama from issuing illegal immigrants Social Security cards and years of back welfare payments, there is no reason to vote Republican ever again," she wrote.
'Turning point'
Cruz told reporters Wednesday, the Washington Times reported, that Hanen’s ruling undercuts the basis of Senate Democrats’ ongoing filibuster to block homeland security spending in defense of the White House’s immigration policies.
Senate Democrats repeatedly have blocked a House-passed $40 billion DHS spending bill because it contains riders that would defund Obama’s immigration orders from 2011, 2012 and 2014.
“The district court’s order was abundantly clear: The federal court enjoined any and all aspects of the illegal amnesty order,” Cruz said. “If the Department of Homeland Security continues moving forward, that on its face is in violation of a federal court injunction.”
Obama has said his Justice Department will appeal the order and vows to continue its immigration preparations in case a higher court lifts the injunction.
Perry called Hanen's decision a "turning point" in the immigration fight.
He emphasized in an interview Thursday on the Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File" there are 26 states "that are standing up and saying that this country is based on the rule of law – you can't have presidents just willy-nilly going around and using their executive fiat whenever they feel it's in their best interest or what they want to see."
The Daily Signal's survey of GOP presidential hopefuls regarding the Hanen ruling, which included Cruz and Perry, indicated the importance of the issue in the 2016 race.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said his state joined the lawsuit "because what the president is doing to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens is unconstitutional, and we’re glad the court agreed."
Jindal said Obama acted on his own because "he knows the American people reject the idea and he couldn’t pass it in Congress."
"Fortunately, the rule of law is something President Obama cannot sidestep. Now it’s time for Congress to once and for all secure the border," he said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., co-sponsored the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013, but spokesman Alex Conant told the Daily Signal that Rubio "has repeatedly said that the president’s executive actions are unconstitutional, and so we’re not surprised by the judge’s ruling."
"Fixing our broken immigration system should be done through legislation, starting with border security and internal enforcement," Conant said.
Former business executive Carly Fiorina agrees with Hanen that the Obama administration "has acted unconstitutionally and has been particularly lawless when it comes to expanding their immigration powers while refusing to secure the border," spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told the Daily Signal.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a presidential candidate in 2008, said Hanen "rightly draws a line in the sand on President Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders."
"President Obama has a fundamental lack of understanding of the Constitution and executive authority," Huckabee said. "Despite what he thinks, our Constitution doesn’t allow the president to just invent new immigration laws. This ruling is a battle victory in the war against the president’s unconstitutional overreach."
The Daily Signal said spokesmen for Gov. Scott Walker; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., did not respond to a request for specific reactions.
But Walker, whose state was part of the lawsuit, tweeted: "Fed judge overseeing lawsuit we joined with 25 other states against admin for exec actions on immigration issued a preliminary injunction."
Paul, promoting a petition to "Defund Executive Amnesty," tweeted: "Pres. Obama's executive amnesty is temporarily blocked. It's time to make that permanent. Add your name today!"
Ben Carson's spokesman told the Daily Signal that Carson would not comment at this stage, but the retired neurosurgeon and popular grassroots figure later wrote in a Twitter message Thursday: "Judge Hanen's usage of the 1946 Admin. Procedure Act regarding immigration shows how President Obama exceeds his powers with exec. orders."
'Blame the Democrats'
The 2008 Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Thursday said Congress should not DHS shut down because of Obama's immigration action, "because the courts have decided, at least initially, in our favor," the Hill reported.
McCain was asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program what he would say to his Republican colleagues in Congress about making sure DHS is funded by Feb. 27.
“I would put sufficient blame on the Democrats for not allowing us to move forward in the Senate," he said. "But having said that, now I’m hopeful with this court decision – with the declaration that the president himself has acted unconstitutionally as he himself stated I think 22 times – that we would let the courts move forward with this issue since we have a favorable ruling."