Texas AG: Obama 'Clearly Violated' Constitution With Amnesty Order

President Barack Obama "clearly violated the Constitution" when he bypassed Congress with his immigration action sparing illegal immigrants who are parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents from deportation, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday.

"He made a massive change in immigration law that Congress should have done, [which] authorizes new benefits for these people including work permits, unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare, driver's licenses and even international travel," Paxton told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" host Bill Hemmer. "We think Congress has to do that, not the president."

Fourteen months ago, Obama said he took the initiative for the program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Relations, or DAPA, because Republicans in Congress had refused repeatedly to support updates to immigration laws, The New York Times reports. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the law, filed by a Paxton-led group of 26 states.

Paxton said Wednesday that Obama had said for six years that he did not have the authority to change the law, before deciding to make the change.

"[He said] that it was up to Congress, that he couldn't wave his magic wand," said Paxton, pointing out that the action's opponents also believe it should have been left up to Congress.

"Congress has the constitutional authority to change the law," said Paxton. "They set this framework in place, and they are the only ones that can change it. This isn't just a little tweak. These are massive changes."

However, Paxton said his group does not have a problem with changing immigration law, as "we actually think that immigration needs some change. But we fundamentally believe that this is a Congressional job. It is only in their authority to do this, not the president."

If the president is allowed to change the law, he continued, "then any president can come along and change any law and make Congress pretty much irrelevant."

All states, not just the 26 involved in the lawsuit, will be affected by the court's decision, said Paxton, as "we haven't had a chance for our representative government to work in this case."

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