“I Do Not Know Why this Man Has Chosen to Use Ohio Resources and Ohio’s Prestige in this Way”
Last week, the State of Ohio joined nineteen other states in suing the federal government over the President’s recent executive action on immigration. In addition to subjecting thousands of Ohio families to deportation, the lawsuit, if successful, would deny $41 million in much needed tax revenue to the state over the next five years.
In the wake of this news, Ohio leaders have been quick to blast the decision by Governor John Kasich and Attorney General Mike DeWine to join this frivolous lawsuit. Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland also added his voice to the mix, highlighting how DeWine’s action stands in stark contrast to Ohio values.
As the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports in a recent sit-down interview with Strickland:
Strickland then brought up Mike DeWine and the fact that the Ohio attorney general says he intends to join a lawsuit, led by Texas, in an effort to strike down President Barack Obama’s immigration order. That order, announced in November, would shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Obama said he was issuing the order because Congress failed to find a way to deal with a broken immigration system. Conservative critics including DeWine say Obama overstepped his bounds.
“That is so troubling to me,” Strickland said. “Mike DeWine, rightly so, has always advocated for families and children. He is engaged heavily with Haiti, working with the orphanage and so forth.
“I see a major contradiction in Mike DeWine’s behavior here, because this immigration executive order at its heart is a family values issue – keeping parents and children together and allowing them to come out of the shadows in which they are forced to live in this country. I do not know why this man has chosen to use Ohio resources and Ohio’s prestige in this way. I find it really troubling. I’d like to talk to Mike DeWine about that, because it is such a contradiction to so much of what he does in his personal life.”
Asked to respond, DeWine sent this statement: “My decision to join the lawsuit in Texas has nothing to do with immigration policy. It has everything to do with preserving our Constitution’s separation of powers and combatting the current administration’s consistent efforts to expand presidential authority into the traditional powers of Congress to make and change federal laws.”
“Governor Strickland is right—Attorney General DeWine and Governor Kasich should know better. By joining this lawsuit, they’re putting anti-Obama partisanship over Ohio families. The effect of DeWine and Kasich’s lawsuit would be to prevent tens of thousands of Ohio residents from getting their papers together and paying more in taxes. It does not make any kind of sense—not moral sense, and certainly not economic sense—to involve Ohio in this frivolous, anti-Obama political exercise. And it certainly doesn’t move our country toward any sort of permanent solution on immigration,” said Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America’s Voice.
RESOURCES:
- America’s Voice: Ohio Leaders Blast Attorney General DeWine’s Decision to Join Texas Immigration Lawsuit
- Center for American Progress: Economic Benefits of Executive Action for OH
- Immigration Policy Center: The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the Buckeye State
- Latino Decisions Polling: NEW POLL RESULTS: National Poll Finds Overwhelming Support For Executive Action on Immigration
