Obama planned to hire 3,100 new federal employees to legalize illegal immigrants before being enjoined by federal courts.

            Now we know that President Obama’s plan to unilaterally legalize millions of illegal immigrants in defiance of Congress, would have required the hiring of 3,100 new full-time federal employees, with benefits, just to process the paperwork. The Obama administration actually did lease an 11-story building in Arlington, Virginia, for $7.8 million per year to accommodate those new hires.

            That plan has been halted by two federal courts in response to a lawsuit by the state of Texas and 25 other states claiming that they would be harmed by the plan which is in violation of both the immigration laws enacted by Congress and the President’s constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws. The District Court injunction halting the President’s executive action was upheld by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on May 26.

            The two federal courts found that the President’s executive order for deferred action for parents of Americans (DAPA) and others was more than a mere exercise of prosecutorial discretion not to seek deportation of illegal immigrants. Rather, by the administration’s admission, the DAPA executive order made its beneficiaries “lawfully present” in the United States, and therefore eligible for social security retirement and disability benefits, Medicare Part A, a social security number, the earned income tax credit, driver’s licenses, and unemployment benefits.

            The federal court injunction will remain in place until the claims of the plaintiff states are fully litigated on the merits, a process which could take until the end of President Obama’s administration.

            Don’t worry about that empty building in Arlington now leased for $7.8 million taxpayer dollars every year. The administration claims it can have other federal employees occupy the space. Our tax dollars at work!