Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding that the Department of Homeland Security explain leaked documents indicating officials are scheming over how to evade a federal judge’s injunction against President Obama’s immigration actions.
The group, led by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called for DHS to explain the origin and status of internal memos published Monday.
“Granting employment authorization to illegal immigrants under the proposed scheme would accomplish, by different means, the de facto legalization of the population intended to be legalized by the enjoined DAPA program,” Republicans charged.
The agency’s proposed regulations would change immigration regulations to allow foreign workers in the U.S., potentially including illegal aliens, to get a green card if an employer sponsors him or her, even if the sponsorship has expired.
The move by DHS would circumvent a program to provide amnesty for illegal immigrants that was the subject of a lawsuit brought by 26 states this year.
Other senators on the letter were David Vitter, R-La., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, John Cornyn, R-Texas, Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Mike Lee, R-Utah, David Perdue, R-Ga., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Ted Cruz R-Texas.
The committee asked for a response by Nov. 12.
“We want assurances that the administration will refrain from moving forward with any such proposal that harms the integrity of our legal immigration system and violates the law,” the letter concluded.
