House Freedom Caucus Leads on Immigration While Rand Paul Falls Short

Shane Trejo |

Mar 4, 2019

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), while positioning himself as President Trump’s top ally on foreign policy, has become a thorn in Trump’s side on immigration. He announced yesterday that he will join RINO Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to block Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the southern border.

“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” Paul said according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

“We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing,” he added.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has joined Paul in his crusade against emergency measures that would help secure the border.

“There is a crisis at our border, but it’s not an emergency when Congress doesn’t spend money how the President wants. The President’s constitutional remedy is to veto spending bills that aren’t suitable to him, yet he has chosen to sign many bills that did not fund the wall,” Massie said in a Tweet.

The leaders of the House Freedom Caucus are taking a different position. They are standing with the President as he addresses the crisis at the southern border that threatens the future of US sovereignty.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) is firmly behind the President.

Democrats’ refusal to negotiate has rendered Congress inept at doing its job to protect Americans. At this point POTUS is absolutely right to use constitutional executive action authority to build the wall and secure our border. This is a national emergency. I fully support him.

— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) February 14, 2019

“What is it going to take before people say that this is serious and we need a border security wall, like what was campaigned on, like the American people elected the President and so many other people to to actually get that done,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). “I think the President has been right on target and I support him 100 percent.”

While the House Freedom Caucus leads on this issue, there is one notable exception within that caucus who is standing against the President: Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI). Amash was the only Republican House sponsor of the Democrats’ resolution to prevent Trump’s emergency powers declaration, and has emerged as the most belligerent of any intra-party opposition to Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.

“I think the President is violating our constitutional system,” Amash said during an appearance on CNN’s Jake Tapper on his State of the Union program. “And I don’t think Congress can grant legislative powers to the President by statute. You can’t just pass a statute that says: the President now has appropriations power and bypass Congress.”

Amash is now being heavily rumored as a possible Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 2020 to oppose Trump. If Paul and Massie want to remain in the fight against the totalitarian left to Make America Great Again, they would be wise to take cues from Jordan and Meadows rather than Amash.