There are at least 50 Obama administration holdovers still in sensitive jobs in the Trump administration, and at least 11 of the top positions in President Trump’s executive branch remain filled by Obama holdovers who are keeping Obama-era policies in place.
The most egregious example of this undermining of the agenda the American people endorsed in the 2016 election occurred yesterday at the Department of Justice, when radical Leftist Obama holdover Acting Attorney General Sally Yates ordered Justice Department lawyers not to defend President Trump’s executive order halting immigration from seven terrorist hotspots.
Not only did Yates give President Trump an arrogant lecture claiming the orders were “immoral,” she also intentionally mischaracterized them as illegal, which they clearly are not, her own Justice Department lawyers having reviewed it prior to the Order being issued.
None of this would have happened had the Senate moved expeditiously to confirm one of its own—Senator Jeff Sessions—as the attorney general of the United States.
As our friend, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew C. McCarthy, pointed out in his article “Trump’s Exclusion of Aliens from Specific Countries Is Legal,” under the Constitution, as Thomas Jefferson wrote shortly after its adoption, “the transaction of business with foreign nations is Executive altogether. It belongs then to the head of that department, except as to such portions of it as are specifically submitted to the Senate. Exceptions are to be construed strictly.”
McCarthy also knocked down claims that President Trump’s executive order violates the 1965 immigration act that “banned all discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin.”
It is true, noted McCarthy, that a section of that act, now codified in Section 1152(a) of Title 8, U.S. Code, states that (with exceptions not here relevant) “no person shall receive any preference or priority or be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person’s race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence.”
However, federal immigration law, observes McCarthy, also includes Section 1182(f), which states: “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate” (emphasis added).
Section 1182(f) plainly and sweepingly authorizes the president to issue temporary bans on the entry of classes of aliens for national-security purposes. This is precisely what President Trump has done. In fact, in doing so, he expressly cites Section 1182(f), and his executive order tracks the language of the statute (finding the entry of aliens from these countries at this time “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States”).
Democrats on Capitol Hill, in a display of hypocrisy and mendacity that was stunning even for them, cheered Yates’ actions, apparently forgetting that 73 sitting Democrats, including most of their leaders, voted in 2002 to ban visas from some Muslim countries—and the law is still on the books.
As our friend, Daniel Horowitz, documented in an article for Conservative Review, following 9/11, Congress passed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, which addressed many of the insecurities in our visa tracking system.
The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously.
The bill was originally sponsored by a group of bipartisan senators, including the late Ted Kennedy and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA. Among other provisions, it restricted non-immigrant visas from countries designated as state sponsors of terror, which would cover at least three of the seven countries listed in President Trump’s Executive Order.
In addition, notes Horowitz, such prominent Democrats as former Vice President Biden, former Secretary of State Clinton, former Secretary of State Kerry and former Majority Leader Reid voted for the bill.
In the House, 57 sitting Democrats voted for the 2002 bill, including leadership members, such as Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), Steny Hoyer, (D-MD) and James Clyburn, (D-SC).
It is also worth noting that several Republicans who have attacked President Trump’s executive order, such as serial whiners Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both voted for the 2002 bill that does the same thing.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, is supposed to be a master of the Senate rules and procedure. However, as President Trump’s Cabinet nominees languish on the Senate calendar due to Democratic obstruction—when there are obvious and easy ways to overcome the obstruction—one wonders what is taking Senator McConnell so long to get Obama holdovers out of the agencies they are still running.
The Democrats announced long ago that they wouldn’t vote to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general and broke all the traditional rules of Senate decorum and comity in opposing him on a very personal level—their delaying tactics are owed no deference.
We urge you to call the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (202-224-5225) to demand that Chairman Grassley report the Jeff Sessions nomination to the full Senate. You may also use the Capitol Switchboard toll-free line (1-866-220-0044) to contact the Judiciary Committee or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to demand Jeff Sessions be confirmed immediately. {eoa]
This article was originally published at ConservativeHQ.com. Used with permission.
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