Shame on Senator Thom Tillis

If US Senator Thom Tillis looks insane it’s because HE IS!

Believe it or not, the US Senator from our fair state, Thom Tillis, has chosen to stand with the Democrats on the issue of the border wall. Earlier today, Tillis announced that he will vote in favor of a Joint Resolution against President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexican border. It is almost certain that the Resolution will pass in the US House.

Tillis says he sees the national emergency declaration as an issue of separation of powers. He says that Congress was tasked with providing funding for immigration and it was Congress’ job to decide whether to fund it, pursuant to the federal government’s power of the purse. It decided not to fund the wall. Tillis believes the issue should have ended there. He believes Trump has no authority to go around Congress.

Here are my issues with Senator Tillis, who claims to be a strict constitutionalist (HA !!):

(1)  Article I, Section 8 tasks the federal government to come up with effective laws concerning naturalization, but nowhere in Article I does it mention that Congress has a general power to restrict immigration.. Congress may have control over spending for with respect to constitutional objects, but I would argue that it doesn’t when the objects are not delegated to the federal government. Therefore, just because Congress decided not to fund the wall doesn’t mean President Trump can’t come up with funding some other way.

Does this mean that States can refuse to have the wall built along their southern border? I can’t answer this. I know the federal government has claimed pre-emption on immigration matters and the Supreme Court sided (of course) with the government in that lawsuit against Arizona several years ago. There may also be an issue of the government sharing jurisdiction with states at the southern border, as it does with the coastal states.

(2)  In the alternative, if the federal government does have supreme power over immigration, then President Trump may have some leverage under Article II, Section 3 (“The President shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed”). If the federal government claims pre-emption or supremacy in effecting our country’s immigration laws, then those laws MUST BE ENFORCED and they MUST be VERY effective. Why? Because if the federal government is denying the states any authority in restricting uncontrolled, illegal immigration across their borders (which is an invasion into sovereign state territory), then it must be willing to do the job itself. If the federal government didn’t intend to do the job very effectively, at the very least, it should permit “shared responsibility” at controlling the borders.

Anyway, if the federal government has assumed supreme control over immigration (thus denying control to the states who are directly impacted), and refuses to pass effective legislation (and funding for it to bring the laws to life), then President Trump may claim his right as the Chief Executive to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Even Senator Tillis has to admit that funding for the wall was withheld in bad faith.

(3)  President Obama gave Congress a deadline to come up with and pass a DREAM Act. That was after Congress was unable to pass one, year after year. And so Obama said in a very public statement: “If Congress won’t pass it, I have a pen and a phone.” And so he created DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) by Executive Order, to provide temporary amnesty for the children of illegals. They would not be deported. Obama did this despite clear and consistent opposition to such a program by Congress. It had the authority to legislate on such matters of immigration. Didn’t the DACA program require funding? Yes, it did. But the crafty Obama sought to have DACA applicant pay a large enough fee ($500) so that the fees covered the expense of the DACA program. (Of course it is highly unlikely that it was really funded by such fees; it seems virtually impossible. But that is what Obama claimed.

What is good for the goose has to be good for the gander. If President Trump is unhappy with Congress’ response to what he considers an urgent situation needing immediate attention (as Obama considered the so-called Dreamers an urgent situation that needed attention), why can’t he solve the situation on his own, finding funding from another source so that Congress can be by-passed?

4).  Finally, there is this argument….. Forget Congress. Forget Trump asking Congress for $5.7 billion dollars to build the impenetrable wall along the southern border. Answer this question: If Trump hadn’t focused on getting the funding from Congress, could he have sought directly to build the wall by asserting a National Emergency at the southern border [based on the importing of lethal drugs that are killing our children, drug trafficking, increased MS-13 gang activity, human trafficking , over-loading all our resources and social services, and just the massive illegality that is occurring, creating a dual system in the US – The Rule of Law for citizens and Lawlessness for Illegals, yet both being equally entitled to all that the US offers (except illegals can’t be drafted] and diverted the funds needed thru the National Emergency Act? The answer is most likely YES. Despite what the moronic Democrats tell you, there is a very real emergency at the border. The overwhelming majority of Americans understand this. It is so evident, that a whole group of house moms and soccer moms (those who were strongly against Trump in 2016) have abandoned the Democratic Party and are now in support of him.

If Trump could have gotten funding legally and legitimately for the wall by claiming a National Emergency in the first place, why can’t be do it in the second-place? He was simply trying to give Congress the opportunity to be part of the solution to our grave border crisis. Sadly, the Democrats put politics over the good of the country.

And so, it appears that Senator Tillis is simply putting on his Rhino clothes and doing what he does best. voting with whichever party he feels at any given moment. Shame on him.

We can’t let him get away with his blatant disregard of the emergency at the border. As a former legislator from North Carolina you would have thought he would have been influenced by the sheer number of illegal Hispanics and other illegals in our state as well as the huge increase in opioid overdoses due to heroin and fentanyl that is pouring across the border and the increase and expansion of the barbaric MS-13 gang, including into Greenville and onto the ECU campus.

The Republican House and Senate when in control failed to secure our borders and now we are in a state of emergency. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. We need strong leadership.

Please stand with our President and common sense.

Contact Senator Tillis’s office and let him know how you feel!! You can contact him at:  https://www.tillis.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

Reference:

Ilya Sonin, “Does the Constitution Give the Federal Government Power Over Immigration,” CATO Institute, September 12, 2018.  Referenced at:  https://www.cato-unbound.org/2018/09/12/ilya-somin/does-constitution-give-federal-government-power-over-immigration