Hoyer: Obama 'Can’t Legalize' Illegals--But He Can Decide How to 'Implement the Laws'

(CNSNews.com) -- House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said that President Obama “can’t legalize” the illegal aliens in the United States, but then added that the president “can implement the laws as he believes they should be implemented."

"Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that Congress has the power to make laws governing naturalization. Given this, does President Obama have the unilateral power to legalize illegal aliens?" CNSNews.com asked Hoyer.

“I don’t think he does,” Hoyer responded, “and I don’t think that’s what he’s going to do. You’re right. He can’t legalize them.”

“What the president can in fact do, however, is implement the laws as he believes they should be implemented,” Hoyer added. “And there have been a lot of scholars – and I’m not going to go through the quotes now – who have said the President clearly has broad authority to decide how he’s going to implement the law.”

“But that does not mean he can legalize people. He can’t make them citizens,” he maintained. “Not according to the law.”

Hoyer also said he’s “not going to speculate” on the possible outcome of President Obama's usurpation of congressional authority in his executive actions on immigration.

More