Amodei Responds RE: the President’s Immigration Executive Order
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-02) today released the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order issued on January 27, 2017:
“First of all, I wish to apologize for apparently missing the memo on media-imposed deadlines for Members of Congress to issue statements on executive orders,” said Congressman Amodei. “I’ll try to do better in the future. However, because I’m a respectful guy, I waited 24 hours after former President Barack Obama issued his statement – apparently his deadline for comment is more flexible.
“I hope the time I took to issue a comprehensive, fact-based response, as opposed to knee-jerk political rhetoric is appreciated by some. After gathering the facts and contacting the Northern Nevada International Center, the Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, and relevant federal agencies, it is our understanding that no individuals in CD-2 have been impacted by this order. With respect to Southern Nevada, it is our understanding there are three cases, totaling 12 people, affected by this order. These include: a family of five individuals, a family of six individuals – both from Iraq – and one individual from Iran.
“For those angered by this issue, I recommend shifting your anger to Congressional Leadership on both sides of the aisle. It’s clearly Congress’s job to regulate immigration, and the fact that we haven’t, and continue not to – leaves a void. President Obama filled this void during his term, and now President Trump in accordance with his campaign promises is doing so also. As long as this void continues, leaders in the Executive Branch, whether Democrat or Republican, are going to continue issuing executive orders that will upset somebody depending on what side they’re on. If this is really about the issue of refugees and immigration reform, opponents should be camping out on leadership’s steps, demanding they take action and bring something to the Floor for a vote – instead of allowing these issues to disintegrate further.
“Speaking of votes, take a gander at the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act. This bipartisan legislation overwhelmingly passed out of the House in 2015. It was signed into law by President Obama through its inclusion in the FY16 Omnibus. The countries affected under President Trump’s executive order were originally listed in this Act, meaning the President’s executive order is built largely off existing law to provide the Department of Homeland Security with the additional time it needs to integrate functioning and effective protocols for visa applicants.
“Our office will continue to focus on solutions to immigration and other issues, rather than opportunities for political pontification. We’ve checked our District, we’ve determined potential impacts, if people need help – we’re here to assist. We’ve also checked on the rest of the State to understand what’s happening there. If my colleagues in Southern Nevada need help, I’m here for them as well.”
The president’s edict bans entrants (including Ambassadors and diplomats, people scheduled for critical surgeries, etc.) from the following seven countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya. It’s still unclear where we currently stand on those holding Green Cards as they’ve waffled back and forth as to whether anyone who was born on one of those 7 countries who holds green card status, and who is currently overseas may return to their homes in the U.S.
Press Secretary Spicer claims that the Executive Order is not a Muslim ban, but the president himself, in one of his now familiar policy tweets, clearly declared it a “ban.” Then he went on the Christian Broadcasting Network and declared that they would prioritize Christian refugees over Muslims. After muddying the waters with his “religious test” potentially making his edict unconstitutional Acting Attorney General Sally Yates declared “At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.” The president’s next action was to do what his base loves about him, he promptly fired her and just for good measure, also fired Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director, Daniel Ragsdale. Then, someone, we don’t know who, gave the oath of office to Thomas D. Homan who was appointed to take over as Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Lastly, Sally Yates was the highest ranking appointee at the Dept of the Attorney General who had gone through the confirmation process and as such WAS the only one authorized to sign off on FISA warrants. So, until the next Attorney General is confirmed, NO ONE is authorized to sign off on such warrants.
All of that activity occured before Rep. Amodei finally got around to answering inquiries and he mentioned none of it. Instead, after some flippancy, he mentioned who he’d contacted to assure us he was on top of all that mattered. I notice that he failed to contact a single Muslim Mosque, but did contact Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada (outside of the district).
As to Mr. Amodei’s mention of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act (HR 158), Congress.gov shows no further legislative action beyond when it was received in the Senate on 12/9/2015 on the bill’s page. It took me a while searching through bills that were signed into law to find the “FY16 Omnibus” to which he refers. That would be HR 2029—Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 and the wording from HR158 appears to have been incorporated as Section 203, close to the end of the bill. It deals primarily with TWO countries, Iraq and Syria. The only mention of “Libya, Somalia, and Yemen” are in the the section prohibiting transfer/release of individuals from those countries who are detained at GITMO. References to Iran appear to deal primarily with particulars associated with “the Iran Deal” and have nothing to do with travel or visa waivers between our two nations. References to “Sudan” have nothing to do with visa waivers at all, but instead focus on economic stabilization and democracy building.
If the Republicans want to blame Obama for providing Trump with fodder for his #MuslimBan edict, it’s just another alternative-fact they’re perpetrating on the general populace. If they want to hang their hat on US State Dept Travel Advisories issued under Obama for selecting any of those countries … they better add a whole bunch of other nations to their list, including Israel.
The question still remains open as to why some middle eastern countries didn’t make the list. Given that our new president has financial interests in those countries, one has to wonder if that might be the answer.
We still haven’t seen his tax returns.