Pete Sessions: “I spoke a bit earlier in relation to the nomination of Jeh Johnson to be Secretary of Homeland Security. It is an…”

“I spoke a bit earlier in relation to the nomination of Jeh Johnson to be Secretary of Homeland Security. It is an important department with 240,000 employees, and includes the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, TSA airport personnel, and ICE officers who enforce immigration laws, our Border Patrol officers who patrol the border, the Citizenship and Immigration Service which evaluates and approves or disapproves people who apply for admission to the United States, and agency after agency. I have watched many of these complex departments and do not believe they have been brought together to the degree they ought to be, and it hasn't had the kind of strong leadership it needs to have to be effective for the American people. In addition to that, we have the difficulty that this administration has basically told the immigration component of Homeland Security--one of its largest components--that they shouldn't do their job. They have been blocked and instructed not to enforce the law to a degree that Professor Turley said represents an unacceptable alteration of the Madisonion understanding of the separation of powers. In other words, the President is charged with the duty to enforce law, to see that the laws of the United States are faithfully enforced. He is not given the power to flatly direct his officers not to enforce laws of the Congress. I am sure Mr. Johnson has many abilities.…”