Pelosi Statement on GOP Plans to File House Amicus Brief Against President’s Immigration Executive Actions

March 1, 2016

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today issued the following statement after Speaker Ryan announced an upcoming vote on a resolution authorizing the filing of a legal brief on behalf of the House before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the 26 states trying to block President Obama's executive actions on immigration:

"For decades, presidents from both parties, including Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, have exercised the broad immigration enforcement authority granted to them by Congress. With his immigration executive actions, President Obama exercised that same authority to bring our broken immigration system better into line with our values and our needs as a nation.

"Speaker Ryan is bringing up for a vote a one-sided Republican resolution that does not speak for Democrats, and will only feed the mean-spirited, anti-immigrant obsession of his party's most extreme forces. The last thing our nation needs is for leaders in Congress to misuse the people's House to divide our country and perpetuate a broken immigration system that tears apart families.

"House Democrats will file an amicus brief before the Supreme Court next week that demonstrates the President's common-sense actions are authorized by existing laws passed by Congress. We have a responsibility to the American people to act in their best interest and this Republican resolution, which runs counter to the values of our country, fails that test and sends a cruel message to millions of hard-working, law-abiding immigrant families: you are not welcome here."