Speaking this morning to talk radio host Laura Ingraham, Florida congressman Allen West, a Republican, blasted President Obama’s immigration plan to use prosecutorial discretion not to go after young immigrants who came to the United States illegally. Obama announced his new immigration plan on Friday.
“What country did we wake up in on Friday?,” West asked. “It just causes people to ask, where are we? You know, the last time we had this was with King George III, and we didn’t like it too much. And I think that you’re seeing the resurrection of an imperial presidency, and the arrogance thereof. To think that you can come out and basically tell the American people that this is what we’re going to do … and don’t question me.”
The big hold up for West seems to be Obama’s decision to bypass Congress and the law of the land. “America is not about ruling by verbal edict or just whims; the president has been elected to enforce the laws of this country. And he doesn’t get to pick which laws he likes or dislikes. And I find it very perplexing and ironic that when he had control of the House and Senate, this did not seem like a very important issue.”
West continued:
He could have brought [immigration] up back in 2009, and got it through. And also it was just not even a year ago — September 2011 — when his own admission, this is something he said he could not do, that he did not have the power and authority to do. So what has changed from September 2011 to where we are today? Political expediency.
West said he hoped politicians would stop “pandering to the special interests” and instead find immigration solutions for the American people.
West also tweaked Mitt Romney for not giving a “forceful” response to Obama’s immigration announcement, when the Republican presidential candidate was asked about the new plan over the weekend. “I guess I feel a little bit dejected because I think that it goes back to what my mother taught me, ‘a man must stand for something, or else he’ll fall for anything,'” West said.
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