WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., sharply disputed an assertion by the treasurer of the AFL-CIO that President Obama’s move to provide amnesty for as many as five million illegal immigrants would help the economy and benefit American workers.
Specifically, he took issue with the notion the economy needed more workers.
“There are limits to the number of workers this country can absorb,” Sessions said. “We just don’t have that many jobs.”
Noting wages had been falling since 2000, Sessions pointed to a study by a Harvard professor in 2013 that concluded that, on net, current immigration policy had reduced the wages of U.S. workers in competition with immigrants by an estimated $400 billion a year, while increasing profits of business owners who use immigrant labor by an estimated $437 billion.
In addition, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, the U.S. has a record 41.3 million immigrants, legal and illegal, with one-million immigrants  entering the country every year. The so-called comprehensive immigration reform bill supported by Obama that passed in the Senate, but not in the House, would add another 30 million legal immigrants over the next decade.
“This is a huge thing. I don’t believe we have a shortage of labor when wages are falling,” said Sessions, adding, “It’s time for somebody to stand up for working Americans.”
His remarks were addressed to AFL-CIO Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler, a witness at a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday on Obama’s amnesty plan.
Sessions warned her, “The idea that certain businesses feel that they have a right to demand labor at the wages they would like to pay, I think, should not be a position you should support.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, picked up on that theme, saying, “It is my view that the modern Democratic party, and to a significant extent union leadership, are actively working contrary to the interests of working men and women in this country and union members.”
He pointed to a January 2013 Rasmussen poll that showed 90 percent of union members said that the reduction of illegal immigration was important to them.
He also referred to a Zogby poll in 2010 that found 72 percent of union members said Americans can fill open jobs.
“Miss Shuler, the AFL-CIO is here testifying in favor of work authorizations for some five-million people who are in this country illegally. That testimony is directly contrary to the strong interests and preferences of your millions of members. How does leadership reconcile acting against the interests and preferences of those millions of union members?”
Shuler replied, “Polls are subject to interpretation … We can find a poll that will support anything, essentially.”
Cruz responded that, while some opinion polls may be open to interpretation, the November election results were unambiguous.
The president had clearly said his policies were on the ballot, “And the American people overwhelmingly rejected amnesty.”
“I feel confident that union members across the country would be astonished to know that union bosses are more interested in loyalty to the Democratic Party than the union bosses are in standing up for the working men and women who have been struggling mightily the last six years.”
As for what he contended was the illegality of Obama’s amnesty and the unilaterally setting aside of immigration laws, Cruz disagreed the move could be justified on the basis of prosecutorial discretion.
That was because, Cruz said, the president is not focusing simply on prosecuting the most violent illegal immigrants, but he also intends to issue work authorizations for five million illegal immigrants, which has no authorization under current law.
“The administration is, for all intents and purposes, counterfeiting immigration documents, because federal immigration law says quite clearly that individuals who’ve come to this country illegally are not eligible to work.”
On Monday, Sessions expressed astonishment and ridiculed the administration for not carrying out amnesty through an executive order.
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In remarks made at the Washington office of the government-watchdog group Judicial Watch, Sessions said: “I guess they just whispered in the ear of (DHS Director) Jeh Johnson over at Homeland Security, ‘Just put out a memo. That way we don’t have to enforce the law.'”
The news that Obama had not signed an executive order to carry out the policy he announced to the nation in a televised address Nov. 20 was broken by WND Senior Staff Writer Jerome Corsi last week.
As a result of the president’s use of a memo instead of an official order, the senator observed: “We don’t even have a really significant, direct, legal direction that we can ascertain, precisely what the president is doing. It’s a stunning event in my view.”
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The senator believes the result was “the creation of a new, alternative immigration system” despite the fact the president “is not empowered to do that.”
Sessions noted the president had publicly acknowledged more than 20 times in recent years that he did not have the constitutional authority to unilaterally implement amnesty. As the senator read excerpts of Obama’s own words, members of the audience laughed aloud at how much those words differed from the president’s actions.
The president should simply uphold the Constitution as it is, Sessions said, “not as he wishes it would be.”
Sessions, who was a U.S. attorney for 12 years and Alabama attorney general for two years, said it was clear the Constitution gives Congress powers over naturalization law.
He called Obama’s amnesty a scheme Congress had explicitly rejected after multiple efforts.
“The House said no, and the American people said no. Congress said no, and the president has gone forward.”
Despite that, Sessions observed, powerful forces wanted amnesty.
“I mean, the president wanted that; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, wanted that; some Republicans wanted that; business groups wanted that; La Raza wanted that; ACLU, all these people wanted it,” he said.
But the American people did not, said the senator, which is why Congress had decided to limit the number of people who can enter the country to live and work.
The senator dropped a bombshell last week when he revealed he had learned the Obama administration is opening a facility in Crystal City, Virginia, to implement the president’s amnesty plan.
Sessions discovered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, is hiring 1,000 full-time and permanent staff members to quickly approve illegal immigrants’ applications for amnesty.
Sessions also learned the administration will provide work permits, photo IDs, Social Security and Medicare to illegal immigrants.
He noted that all of those benefits for illegal immigrants had been rejected by Congress.
The Obama administration had initially indicated illegal immigrants would not be eligible for Social Security benefits, but officials were forced to admit the plans after Sessions revealed them.
On Monday, Sessions repeated his call to House leaders to add language into the pending omnibus spending bill blocking funds for executive amnesty. House leaders have resisted the effort by GOP conservatives.
He said the most effective tool is public opinion, and he asked voters to make clear to their elected representatives how much they oppose amnesty.
“We’ve got a challenge, but I think the American people get it. I think they are going to insist their voice will be heard,” predicted Sessions.
Sessions said it was known that government officials held some 20 meetings with business stakeholders hoping for amnesty, adding, “You know who’s not a stakeholder? You. John Q. Public.”
Sessions was introduced by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, whose organization has broken numerous big developments in administration scandals involving the IRS, Benghazi, Obamacare and Fast and Furious gunrunning, as well as immigration.
Just last week, Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell told WND a government assertion that no terrorists had crossed the southern border into the country was “simply false” and provided details to the contrary.
In his introduction, Fitton noted the public doesn’t want amnesty, “but leaders of both parties do.”
He reminded listeners how Judicial Watch had published “story after story” exposing the Obama amnesty agenda and its inherent dangers.
Most pointedly, Fitton observed that amnesty was not about illegal aliens, it was about the illegal alien vote, and “the illegal alien vote is about stealing elections.”
He referred to a study he said showed that enough illegals voted in 2012 to give Obama a margin of victory in his re-election campaign. Illegals also provided enough votes to elect the 60th Democrat senator needed to pass Obamacare in the face of GOP opposition.
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