(Conservative Tribune) In response to President Barack Obama’s unlawful and unconstitutional Executive decree of amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, Congressional Republicans have devised a way to strike back.
The appropriations and funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security has been separated out from the rest of the government’s funding, and a bill has been crafted that funds all of the needs of the various departments and agencies under the DHS umbrella, except for that which would go towards implementing amnesty.
In what can only be described as immature obstinance, Obama has threatened to not only veto the bill, but to also shut down the entire DHS if his Executive amnesty isn’t fully funded.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson recently sent out a letter to the nation’s Mayors, Sheriffs, and police chiefs, threatening them with the loss of federal funding grants if they don’t lobby Congress on behalf of the administration to fully fund amnesty.
The threat obviously worked on the mayors, as the U.S. Conference of Mayors immediately sent a letter to Senate Republicans, imploring them to give in to Obama’s demands.
However, WND is reporting that Secretary Johnson’s letter has had the opposite effect on the Sheriffs around the country, with a few of them speaking out against the “strong-arm tactics” being used by the administration.
“These are strong-arm tactics, obviously,” said Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. “It’s nothing more than alarmist rhetoric from the secretary. He’s playing politics with the homeland security of the United States.”
Considering the heightened risk posed by radical Islamic terrorists at this point in time, the Sheriffs say that now is the worst time to play a high-stakes game of political football.
If a funding bill isn’t passed and signed by the deadline of February 27, then the DHS will be “shut down,” with only “essential” workers still doing their job, and many placed on temporary, unpaid leave.
But Sheriff Clarke says this will mostly just hurt the general public, who rely on law enforcement to protect them and uphold the law. Law enforcement agencies in turn rely on the federal government for some of the funding needed to do what they have to do.
“If this thing reaches an impasse, there will be no shutdown of Homeland Security,” Clarke said. “What happens is, the president can designate certain functions as vital and exempt.”
“Under the last shutdown, 85 percent of Homeland Security continued to function as normal,” he added, “so this is nothing but alarmist rhetoric, and I hate to see homeland security and national security put under the realm of politics.”
Clarke went on to explain how his Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with his drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs are funded by federal grants. Furthermore, the officers who he has assigned to the airport in Milwaukee are paid for using funds from the Transportation Security Administration.
All of that being said, Clarke doesn’t expect DHS to actually be shut down completely, saying “The president will blink in the end. But what bothers me is they’re playing politics with homeland security. He shouldn’t do that. It’s almost like playing politics with our military. You don’t do that. But then again, this is Washington, D.C.”
Clarke added, “These aren’t discretionary grants. These are vital operations.”
Sheriff Clarke was also joined by Colorado’s Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith, who posted his own retort to Secretary Johnson’s threatening letter on his Facebook page.
“Let me get this straight – the president believes he has the authority to nullify federal laws that don’t serve his personal agenda, but if Congress dares to exercise its responsibility of controlling the purse strings, he will willingly hold public safety grants hostage just to get his way?”
“Mr. President, you don’t have to love the Congress we elected, but you do have to respect their role as established under the Constitution – and Mr. Johnson, please show some integrity and stop with the threats. Sheriffs don’t take kindly to them.”
These two men are in turn joined by many, many more Sheriffs and law enforcement officials from around the country who have expressed their concern over the President’s unilateral decision to grant amnesty for illegal immigrants, and have been warning about the inevitable consequences and repercussions of his weak border enforcement policies.
Hopefully, the Sheriffs are right, and the administration will back down from their ludicrous threats, which if followed through with would imperil the entire nation.
If they don’t back down though, and actually do shut down DHS in some form or fashion, then any potential attack can be placed squarely at the feet of Obama, who will be the only one responsible for shutting down an entire department over an issue with funding for one small aspect within the giant umbrella agency.
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