Washington, DC (Nov. 20, 2014) Today, Congressman Pearce responded to President Obama's executive order outlining expanded relief for undocumented immigrants in the United States. Specifically, the "Immigration Accountability Executive Action" is a plan that expands Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and creates a new deferred action program for up to 4 million undocumented people who have lived in the U.S. for more than 5 years and are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. The result is that the immigration law will be changed for nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants.

"President Obama's decision to use executive powers to alter immigration policy for 5 million people is a gross abuse of power," said Congressman Steve Pearce. "The President is choosing to ignore the bounds of his Constitutional powers and bypass Congress. Very simply, these actions are illegal and unlike those taken by any other President. This is not just my view, this is the view of many. Even Doris Meissner, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service for President Clinton, noted that prosecutorial discretion does not provide the President the right to ignore current law."

"Not only are the President's actions disregarding the Constitution, the democratic process, and the will of the people, they are short-sighted and cruel. The innately political action by the President will have harmful and damaging effects, while significantly disheartening and disadvantaging the millions of potential immigrants following the law and waiting to enter the United States."

"The immigration system in the United States must change. As New Mexicans, we live with the impacts of a broken immigration system. For our families, for our neighbors, and for our friends, the government must work to correct this problem. As Gov. Martinez describes in a recent Washington Times article, reform cannot be political, temporary, or self-promoting. It must be permanent and it must be based on fairness."

"Congress must work together. We must find bipartisan solutions anywhere we can, as I have with Congressman O'Rourke. Comprehensive immigration reform is not the only option, nor does it have to be. Immigration reform, like any issue, is not too large to face, as long as we are willing to work together. While members of Congress recognize the need to fix our broken immigration system, and that differing approaches exist to accomplish this, the reality is that the President cannot just ignore our laws."