[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18002]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT IMMIGRATION DECISION

  Mr. REID. Madam President, the Fifth Circuit Court's decision 
yesterday was a political move that ignores past precedents on 
Executive action on immigration.
  The Republicans have spoken out against the President's action on 
what he has done on immigration. Why did he do it? Because he was 
trapped. He had to do it because the Republicans refused to legislate.
  And like every President before him, President Obama has a legal 
right to establish clear immigration enforcement priorities and 
allocate resources accordingly.
  But the attorney general of Texas and 25 other Republican Governors 
and attorneys general filed a lawsuit stating that the President had 
exceeded his authority. This decision affects millions of American 
families who are now subject to being torn apart, and as many as 5 
million immigrants could be set for mass deportation.
  I expect the administration will swiftly appeal this decision to the 
Supreme Court and that the Court will find the actions lawful. It is 
sad that Republicans are wasting their time talking about mass 
deportation when they could be doing things to solve the problem, such 
as passing a bill that reforms our immigration system once and for all. 
The Republican Party has neglected the lessons of the 2012 elections 
and has plunged over a cliff following Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and 
the others.
  The Executive actions were neither a complete nor a permanent 
solution to the problems plaguing the immigration system, but they were 
a commonsense step in the face of inaction.
  As Judge Carolyn Dineen King stated in her dissent very clearly, ``a 
mistake has been made.'' So it is now up to the U.S. Supreme Court to 
correct this grave mistake--a mistake that sets not only a dangerous 
precedent but one that is bad for families, bad for our communities, 
and bad for the future prosperity of our country. Again, as Judge King 
said, ``a mistake has been made.''

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