Sen. Jeff Sessions delivered a blistering critique of the Obama administration’s approach to illegal immigration Friday, saying the administration is breaking the law and sticking the U.S. taxpayer with the bill.
Pointing to a White House statement that illegal immigrants who benefit from President Barack Obama’s executive orders will receive tax credits, Sessions told National Review Online that "this is yet one more illustration of the enormous cost inflicted by the President’s illegal action."
Obama has "now launched a new $100 million facility and staffing operation to provide illegal immigrants with the exact benefits rejected by Congress
— including work permits, Social Security and Medicare,"
Sessions said.
These credits "will cost American taxpayers billions every year and represent an enormous cash transfer from American workers to lower-wage illegal workers. These tax credits are not refunds, but a direct cash payment from the Treasury to illegal immigrants
— at a time when the Treasury is running huge deficits," he added.
The Alabama Republican’s remarks came in response to a statement earlier this week by
White House spokesman Josh Earnest emphasizing the administration’s intention to turn illegals into taxpayers. Under Obama’s immigration orders, these individuals are "going to be filing their taxes on a regular basis," Earnest said. It means that if "they qualify for the child tax credit, for example, as a taxpayer that would be something that they would benefit from," he added.
Sessions emphasized that his congressional colleagues needed to take this flouting of the law into account during the budget negotiations now taking place on Capitol Hill.
"Congress should fund government, but not fund this illegal activity," he said.