Ted Poe: “I come today to talk to you about something pretty basic--that is our Constitution, the way our Constitution was set up.…”

“I come today to talk to you about something pretty basic--that is our Constitution, the way our Constitution was set up. We all learned in civics that this body, Congress, writes the laws for the people. Down the street the Supreme Court interprets that law, they judge that law. And the executive branch is the branch of government that we expect through our Constitution to execute the law or enforce the law. In fact, our Constitution in article 2 states specifically about the President and gives the President a job and a duty that no other person in this country has under our Constitution. Besides taking the oath to uphold the Constitution, article 2, section 3, says that the President shall ``take care that the laws be faithfully executed'', that the laws are in the hands of the President, and he is to take care that he fulfills his obligation to execute those laws, to follow those laws. That's the way our Constitution is set up, but that is not occurring. Because, you see, we have laws in this country that this body has passed that the administration doesn't want to enforce. In fact, recently, the administration sent down an edict through its administrative agencies and said no longer will the President be the chief enforcer of the law. He will, in my opinion, become the chief ignorer of the law, the immigration laws.…”