WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following comment today on a bulletin issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announcing a new facility in Crystal City, Virginia, with plans to hire 1,000 staff, in order to begin immediate implementation of the President’s wage-reducing amnesty and work authorization decree:

“It has just been discovered today that the Obama Administration is now opening a new USCIS facility in Crystal City, Virginia, for the purpose of immediately implementing the President’s imperial immigration decree. They are in the process of hiring 1,000 full-time staff to quickly approve applications for the President’s illegal amnesty, which will provide work permits, photo IDs, Social Security, and Medicare to illegal immigrants—all benefits rejected by Congress. This action will mean that American workers, their sons, their daughters, their parents, will now have to compete directly for jobs, wages, and benefits with millions of illegal immigrants.

This facility is a clear symbol of the President’s defiance of the American people, their laws, and their Constitution. He is hiring federal employees to carry out a directive that violates the laws Congress has passed in order to foist on the nation laws Congress has repeatedly refused to pass.

Some have suggested that implementing this amnesty would not have a financial cost, but this action unmistakably demonstrates otherwise. Moreover, the USCIS employees themselves have made plain that taxpayers will be on the hook, warning through their union that the agency is an ‘approval machine’ that will ‘rubber stamp’ applications for amnesty.

Year after year, our annual spending bills include numerous restrictions on how federal money can and cannot be spent. Congress funds programs that are worthy and does not fund programs it deems unworthy. The President cannot spend money unless the Congress approves it, and certainly the Congress should not approve funds for an illegal amnesty.

The American people need a voice. Why were we elected, if not to serve the citizens who sent us here?”

BACKGROUND:

You can view the bulletin here. Text is below:

USCIS Bulletin:

“USCIS is taking steps to open a new operational center in Crystal City, a neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, to accommodate about 1,000 full-time, permanent federal and contract employees in a variety of positions and grade levels. The initial workload will include cases filed as a result of the executive actions on immigration announced on Nov. 20, 2014. Many job opportunities at the operational center will be announced in the coming days and please continue to monitor USAJOBS if you are interested.”