Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL) defended tying funding for the president’s executive action on immigration to DHS funding on Thursday’s “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.
“I agree with [Sen.] Harry Reid (D-NV), the Department of Homeland Security ought to be funded, and I wish Harry Reid would quit blocking that funding by, instead of funding the Department of Homeland Security, insisting on protecting illegal and unconstitutional conduct by the President of the United States, conduct which the president himself has admitted is illegal and unconstitutional.”
Earlier, when asked why Republicans were fighting to defund the order after a court delayed the implementation of the executive action, he pointed out that the ruling was not final.
He continued, “what do you do when a United States president violates federal law and disregards the United States Constitution? We’ve got a majority of the House of Representatives who believes that President Obama has done just act, acted illegally. The majority of the United States Senate that has said the same thing. Two federal court judges have said the same thing. One in Pennsylvania, and one in Texas. And for that matter, the President of the United States has said at least 22 times that his conduct is illegal and unconstitutional, yet he then did it.”
Brooks was then asked, “what would you be defunding, though, if the program is not operative?” He responded, “well, that’s the big if. Tomorrow it may be operative…there is a risk that at any point in time an appellate court or Supreme Court may decide to go ahead and enter a stay of the district court order in which case Barack Obama, as he’s shown in the past, is going to immediately implement what we believe and what he himself has said is illegal and unconstitutional conduct.”
Brooks further declared, “If you vote tomorrow, for this continuing resolution [that makes DHS funding separate from funding for the executive action], and if the stay is lifted, then you will have voted to fund illegal unconstitutional action, and I’m not going to take that risk.”
Regarding the potential impact of the immigration fight on future elections, he said “if we’re going to fight tomorrow on protecting American jobs, and putting American citizens first and foremost, struggling American families first and foremost for the seeking of those jobs and the obtaining of those higher wages, instead of uplifting illegal aliens…putting illegal aliens superior to American citizens, if that’s the ground that the Senate Democrats want to fight and defend on, I challenge them to do so and I welcome the 2016 election outcome.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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