Global agreement rewrites laws, erases borders.
President Obama has a new vehicle in his drive to unilaterally change America’s immigration laws. And if he has his way, no future Congress will be able to reverse course.
A sweeping international regulatory agreement the administration is pushing to wrap up as soon as next month would place immigration policy beyond the reach of Congress and cement it in binding international law.
The administration is negotiating the agreement, known as the TransPacific Partnership, or TPP, with 11 countries, from Mexico and Canada to Vietnam and Malaysia.
The U.S. trade representative confirms a key feature of the TPP is “labor mobility” – a bureaucratic euphemism for increased immigration and so-called guest workers.
The administration hopes to conclude the mostly secret negotiations on the TPP this spring. It has asked Congress for fast-track trade promotion authority to expedite its enactment and prevent Congress from amending whatever agreement the president negotiates. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., are cooperating with the Obama administration to move trade promotion authority and the TPP through Congress.
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