President Barack Obama crossed a "dangerous threshold" when he bypassed Congress and acted unilaterally with an executive order on immigration, Sen. Ted Cruz told "Fox & Friends."
The Texas Republican said Obama had a "very strange view of how our constitutional system works" when he "demands the policy he wants, and if Congress disagrees with him, he says, well, I'm going to enact it anyway" despite the will of the voters, who "spoke overwhelmingly" against illegal amnesty in the midterm elections.
"It was an historic tidal wave. And what does the president do immediately after the election? He responds with anger, with defiance, and says, 'I don't care what the American people say. Even though my policies were on the ballot all across the country, even though the voters said no to amnesty, I'm going to decree anyway,'" the Texas Republican said Monday.
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"That's really a dangerous, dangerous threshold the president's crossed."
The executive order announced Thursday has angered Republicans, as Obama granted sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system, offering temporary protections for millions of illegal immigrants. Cruz admitted there was "a lot of middle ground" between Republicans and Democrats on the immigration issue, and felt confident Congress could find compromise.
Cruz said he had "laid out a detailed and systematic plan" to counter Obama's executive order. If the president implemented it, Cruz said Congress should "halt confirming any executive or any judicial nominees, other than vital national security positions, until this amnesty is ended."
Though replacing Attorney General Eric Holder, who is stepping down, would likely be considered a national security position, Cruz said that would not prevent lawmakers from asking pointed questions to Obama's nominee, Brooklyn prosecutor Loretta Lynch.
"No attorney general should be confirmed, unless that attorney general makes perfectly clear that they're not willing to be a part of this illegal and unconstitutional amnesty," he said.
Cruz also suggested Congress use the "power of the purse" as a way to block implementation of the order, but added that did not include a government shutdown.
"The only one talking about a shutdown is the president. The president wants to talk about that," he said.
Cruz suggested proponents of the immigration executive order give thought to how they would view another occupant of the White House using the same power Obama used in his action on immigration.
"There will be another president. And maybe it's a president who's policy views you don't agree with. If the president has the ability to announce, 'I'm not going to enforce federal immigration laws because I don't agree with them,' then the president has the same power to say, 'I'm not going to enforce the tax laws or labor laws or environmental laws.' That's dangerous. It's why we have a Constitution," he said.