As 18 states are suing the Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over Obama's executive action granting deferral from deportation for up to five million illegal aliens, Americans are split right down the middle on whether they would want their state to join in the lawsuit.
Rasmussen Reports found in a new poll conducted December 5-6 that 45 percent of likely U.S. voters would approve of their state joining in the lawsuit, while 42 percent would not.
The lawsuit was initiated by Texas attorney general and governor-elect Greg Abbott, and holds that Obama's action in granting freedom from deportation and work permits to illegal aliens "violates the president’s constitutional duty to faithfully enforce the laws and the executive branch’s legal duties under the Administrative Procedures Act,"
The Federalist reports.
Voters also were divided on whether Congress should act to block the president's plan — 48 percent believe Congress should act while 43 percent do not.
Predictably, the poll was split along party lines, with 73 percent of Republican respondents saying their state should join in the lawsuit and 63 percent of Democrats saying their state should not join with the 18-state coalition.
Most recent to join in was Florida, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said, "This lawsuit is not about immigration. Rather, this lawsuit is about President Obama yet again overstepping the power granted to him by our United States Constitution.
"We need to fix our system of immigration but willfully turning a blind eye to the inconvenience of law and rule is not the path to a remedy, but a prescription for unwarranted presidential overreach," the
Miami Herald reported.
Other states currently participating in the lawsuit include Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Some 44 percent of those surveyed in the Rasmussen poll believe Obama has been "less faithful to the Constitution" than other presidents, and only 22 percent believe he has been more faithful than others. Thirty percent believe Obama has been about as faithful in following the Constitution as other presidents.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, told the Herald, "The precedent the president set is horrifying. I believe that the president’s decision really stretches his constitutional powers, and you can make a very compelling argument that it violates it."
However, Allison Tant, chairman of Florida's Democratic Party, blasted Bondi, telling the Herald, "She puts her partisan political agenda above what’s right for Floridians. It’s no surprise that Bondi would join a politically motivated lawsuit that seeks to ensure the deportation of millions of immigrants and tear apart families."
The Federalist termed the lawsuit "one of the most promising vehicles to curtail not only Obama’s immigration action, but future power grabs by presidents claiming to be engaged merely in enforcement discretion as opposed to rule- or law-making. The alternative … is a dangerous executive power arms race."
The survey was of 1,000 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
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