Obama Amnesty May Be a Federal Crime

by Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch: So, just how much money is being spent in response to executive actions taken to house and accommodate illegal aliens? Your Judicial Watch is calling on members of Congress to take a hard look at the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Deferred Action to Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program. These programs are two key parts of Obama's illegal amnesty effort and involve violations of law that carry civil and criminal penalties. Yesterday, as Obama's Democrat allies (with silent support, I'm sure, from more than a few Republican colleagues) mounted a filibuster in the United State Senate to prevent funding of the Department of Homeland Security in order to enable Obama's continued lawlessness, we urgently put out an action item for your elected representatives:
"Judicial Watch calls upon Congress, its committees, or its members to request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate, analyze, and opine on the following issues:"Whether Congress has specifically appropriated the funds or has specifically authorized the assessment of fees necessary for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to implement the plans to extend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) and establish Deferred Action to Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA);

"To the extent no funds have been specifically appropriated, whether USCIS is using funds appropriated, including any monies raised by fees assessed by USCIS, for a different, designated purpose to fund the implementation the plans to extend DACA and establish DAPA;

"To the extent any funds, including any monies raised by fees assessed by USCIS, are being used to implement the plans to extend DACA and establish DAPA, whether the use of such funds is unauthorized or prohibited.

"Whether USCIS is using property or employees designated for a specific purpose to implement the plans to extend DACA and establish DAPA, regardless of such designation."The legal issues involving the improper use of taxpayer dollars are urgent given that the USCIS may have already entered into or imminently will enter into contracts and/or do so. This unauthorized spending may be a direct violation of the Antideficiency Act, which makes it a violation of law, with potential civil and criminal penalties, for government officials to spend monies that have not been appropriated by Congress. President Obama's nullification of immigration law is broad and involves numerous policies in multiple federal agencies, but the center of the storm is in USCIS, where monies are being misspent in ways contrary to the fundamental purpose of that law enforcement agency."Our legal team reports that the Antideficiency Act generally prohibits an officer or employee of the U.S. government from:[M]aking or authorizing an expenditure from, or creating or authorizing an obligation under, any appropriation or fund in excess of the amount available in the appropriation or fund unless authorized by law; involving the government in any obligation to pay money before funds have been appropriated for that purpose, unless otherwise allowed by law; accepting voluntary services for the United States, or employing personal services not authorized by law, except in cases of emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection of property; making obligations or expenditures in excess of an apportionment or reapportionment, or in excess of the amount permitted by agency regulations.To the extent an officer or employee may be in violation of the Antideficiency Act, Congress mandates that the Comptroller General, the head of GAO, conduct an investigation of the matter. The Obama gang was most recently found to have violated this law by the GAO in the scandalous release of terrorists in the Bergdahl swap scandal.

The GAO warns that violators of the Antideficiency Act:
"[S]hall be subject to appropriate administrative discipline including, when circumstances warrant, suspension from duty without pay or removal from office."

In addition, an officer or employee who "knowingly and willfully" violates [the law] "shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both."Some in the U.S. Senate seem to understand the legal stakes. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) joined with Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI.) to write a letter addressed to Joseph Moore, Chief Financial Officer for the USCIS, that asks for highly pertinent financial information. The letter correctly points out that Obama's directives "will redirect scarce resources away" from the USCIS's "core mission" for activities Congress never approved. And, it makes the following, very pointed, request:To assist us in our constitutional oversight responsibilities, we are asking you, as Chief Financial Officer, to provide a detailed accounting of all expenditures by USCIS to date and a projection of all temporary and permanent expenditures for these executive actions, including the source of the funds to be used and the specific accounts in which the funds are located, in dollar amounts. Please also indicate the amount USCIS is projected to spend on these programs from FY2015 through FY2025 on a monthly and annual basis.Instead of doing the public's business to enforce immigration law, the USCIS has been hijacked by President Obama and his appointees to aid, abet, and harbor illegal aliens - in absolute violation of the law. Obviously, Congress never appropriated money for the lawlessness. The strict enforcement of the Antideficiency Act against this egregious misappropriation of government monies (your tax dollars) is one more "rule of law" tool that may help to bring the administration's illicit actions to a halt.
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Tom Fitton is president of Judicial Watch, which is representing several individuals and organizations in the ACLU subpoena litigation.

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