Indiana Joins 16 Other States In Lawsuit Against Obama
Yesterday, in a letter to Attorney General Greg Zoeller, Governor Mike Pence directed that the State of Indiana join 16 states in a lawsuit seeking to have President Obama’s executive order that unilaterally changed American immigration laws without input from Congress ruled unconstitutional. Governor Pence issued the following statement regarding Indiana’s participation in the lawsuit:
“While reasonable people can differ on ways to improve our nation’s broken immigration system, the President’s unilateral action was an unacceptable end run around the democratic process and joining other states in pursuing legal recourse to challenge this action is the right thing to do. This lawsuit is not about immigration. It is about denying states such as ours the opportunity to be represented in policy making through our elected members of Congress.
“This lawsuit seeks to have the federal courts restore the rule of law and proper balance to our constitutional system of government. I encourage the President to rescind his executive order and immediately begin to work with Congress to pass legislation that will secure our nation’s border and update our immigration laws. That is the proper way to deal with this or any other issue our nation faces.”
At a business round table in Washington yesterday, President Obama made the following remarks: “I recognize that there’s been some controversy about the executive actions that I’ve taken. On the other hand, I think the Business Round Table has been extraordinarily helpful in getting the country to recognize that this is the right thing to do for our economy. We know it will grow the economy faster. We know it will help us reduce the deficit. We know that it gives us the capacity to bring in high-skilled folks who we should want to gravitate towards the United States to start businesses and to create new products and new services, and to innovate, and to continue the tradition of economic dynamism that’s the hallmark of the United States of America.”
“I am still hopeful that we can get legislation done, because if we get legislation done, it actually supplants a lot of the executive actions that I’ve already taken – which I’ve acknowledged are incomplete, allow us to make some progress, but they’re temporary, and we could be doing a lot better if we actually get legislation done,” continued Obama.
The full lawsuit filing can be found here.
Source: Office of Gov. Mike Pence; The White House