Arizona Officials Call Out President for Lawlessness

In Friday morning remarks to the British Broadcasting Corporation, Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, the chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, criticized President’s Barack Hussein Obama for bypassing Congress and taking executive action on immigration.

“One of my greatest concerns here is that this president has demonstrated, not just tonight, but on many other occasions that he holds himself unconstrained by the constitution he swore to preserve and protect," Congressman Franks said. "And if other presidents take that tack then the Constitution will essentially be vitiated and I suppose, we, as Americans will owe England an apology for that little unpleasantness back in Revolutionary War.”

Franks added that Obama has gone beyond the Constitution ...

“on a regular basis, on a mass scale, when it was very easy for him to have simply allowed the new Congress to come into power. We've already passed in the Republican House Judiciary Committee, upon which I sit, five bills related to immigration. And there is no question in my mind that there would be a Republican immigration bill.”

Asked about fears that Republicans, by insisting on upholding the law, would lose Latino votes, Franks said,

“Well, you know, in this last election, we got over 40%, which is a higher percentage than they've gotten in a long time. It's kind of a false narrative; a lot of people who came to this country, my wife speaks a good part of Spanish, she's from the Philippines, I'm married to an immigrant, she came here legally,” adding that immigrants, “who came here legally and who have relatives that are trying to come here legally resent the notion that we would simply allow those who come here illegally to get in front of them. And to have first place in being able to take their place in American society. I would like very much to do what's necessary to fix our immigration system. It does have significant problems. But the reality is, if we are unable to control our borders then we simply, as Ronald Reagan mentioned, we cease to be a country at all. The bigger issue here is that this issue was playing out in Congress, there would have been legislation, and now I believe this President, sincerely, I believe that he has set back a real solution to this problem to this problem and divided Americans at each end, and this only demagogues the issue, which I'm afraid, genuinely, was his original intent.”

Attorney General-Elect Criticizes ObamaToday attorneys general and AG-elects in 17 states ripped Obama for his lawlessness. Among them was newly elected Arizona AG Mark Brnovich, who issued this statement:

Along with many of our fellow Americans, Republican Attorneys General listened carefully to President Obama’s remarks about his intended, unilateral actions regarding immigration. We agree with the President, “people who live in this country should play by the rules.” The American people also believe the President should play by the rules and respect the rule of law. The President cannot ignore the American people, the states or an entire branch of government.

Our country’s unique strength derives from its history of immigration. The values of immigrants are the values of our Republican Party, those of freedom, optimism, self-reliance, family and respect for the rule of law. We want our immigration laws to be enforced and our borders to be secure. We also want our country to be welcoming to those who want to join us on this American journey in the manner established by our laws.

As our states’ lead attorneys, however, we are committed to the rule of law and ensuring that we remain a nation of laws, enacted as prescribed by our Constitution. Each president takes an oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and … to the best of [his] Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” We expect President Obama to fulfill this oath. As attorneys general we will uphold our constitutional oath to take whatever actions may be appropriate to uphold the rule of law.

Outgoing Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Assails Lawless Prez

“Not so long ago, President Obama rightly acknowledged that his role as president under the Constitution is to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ Publically and repeatedly he has rejected the suggestion of bypassing Congress to impose a de facto amnesty via executive order.“Now, rather than work with Congress on a bipartisan solution to fix our immigration system and secure the border, he is once again taking brazen, unilateral action that will only further exacerbate the border problem – just as he did in 2012 when he signed an executive order to provide an amnesty to almost two million illegal aliens through his ‘Deferred Action’ plan.“This is not a partisan issue. When the bluest of blue states – like Oregon, for example – vote overwhelmingly to prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining drivers licenses, it speaks volumes about the widespread lack of support for President Obama’s immigration policies. The American people have spoken, and time and again they have been ignored.“That President Obama refuses to visit our border, refuses to enforce our existing immigration laws and refuses to come to the table on an issue of such critical national safety and economic importance is a disgrace. We are a nation of laws, the most significant of which are written to ensure cooperation and balance among our branches of government. Separation of powers is what has distinguished us from other forms of government for 225 years. Over the past six years, this President has sought at every turn to move us toward a concentration of power which, as President Reagan opined, ‘has always been the enemy of liberty.’ With controversial executive actions like that announced today, President Obama undermines our Constitution and erodes the fundamental principles upon which America was built.“Clearly, the president is not interested in executing our laws, and even when he and his party had control of Congress and the White House, they did absolutely nothing to reform immigration. His new executive action sends a disturbing message about the way this president perceives his role as leader. When a president constantly refuses to enforce existing laws, disregards the will of the people and creates his own policies based on personal preferences, we shift from a nation of democracy to one of tyranny. In 1838, a profound man, Abraham Lincoln, prophetically warned the American people that a tyrant could overtake our political system from within, and that, ‘when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.’“Evidently this president must be reminded that we, the American people, elected a president that serves beneath the law – we did not anoint a tyrannical king that is above the law.”