Live from Washington, D.C. Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the Executive Director and General Counsel for the Immigration Reform Institute Dale Wilcox to the microphones to outline how his not for profit focuses on immigration and reform policy in America.
Leahy: We are joined now by Dale Wilcox, the executive director and general counsel for the Immigration Reform Institute. Welcome, Dale.
Wilcox: Good morning.
Leahy: I understand that we will allow you in here although you are a graduate of the University of Louisville.
Wilcox: Yes, this is true.
Leahy: I know. It’s okay. (Wilcox chuckles) We’re adjacent states. You’ve had some national basketball championships. You must have been there when there was a national championship?
Wilcox: Actually, yes I was in ’86.
Leahy: Denny Crum.
Wilcox: Denny Crum, correct. Yeah. The golden years.
Leahy: Who was the big guy there?
Wilcox: Pervis Ellison.
Leahy: Never nervous Pervis. So you were there then?
Wilcox: Yes, I was.
Leahy: And then you went on to Regents University Law School. A very good law school, by the way. At least for especially for not at least for especially for constitutional liberty.
Wilcox: And that’s exactly why I went there. We actually learned Blackstone. Imagine that.
Leahy: I know. Tell our listeners what Blackstone is.
Wilcox: Blackstone is an English legal scholar. That all law schools used to study.
Leahy: A 19th-century legal scholar. He defined, shall we say, Anglo-American law.
Wilcox: Right. That’s correct. And most law schools have abandoned learning anything about Blackstone and the true foundations and principles that established this country.
Leahy: I knew I was going to like you, even though you went to Louisville. (Laughter) Tell us now, if you will, about the Immigration Reform Law Institute. What do you do?
Wilcox: We are a legal not-for-profit. The only legal, not-for-profit in the United States that purely focus on immigration reform, immigration law.
Other not for profits like Judicial Watch, they might dabble in immigration occasionally. And I worked for Judicial Watch.
Leahy: Dabble. A good group.
Wilcox: An excellent group. I worked for them for more than ten years, so I can’t say enough good about them.
Leahy: But when it comes to immigration law, they are dabblers.
Wilcox: They are dabblers.
Leahy: And you at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, you guys are the experts.
Wilcox: I got turned on to immigration law at Judicial Watch. In fact, I wrote their first brief in the immigration area, and I jumped over to do immigration full time.
And what we do is we go around the country and we defend the same immigration policy that advances American interest.
Leahy: Let me just interrupt for a moment. You said the magic word saying immigration policies. Here’s the big question. The Biden maladministration is legal, but not legitimate. In my view, they are violating every tenant of American immigration law.
Wilcox: Oh, they are. (Chuckles) The rule of law does not exist under this administration.
Leahy: Okay, so given that, it would seem to me that any time you bring a lawsuit that says, hey, look, the Biden administration is violating the law, that you would have a slam dunk win in the court. Except, I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but there are an awful lot of left-wing lunatic federal district court judges.
Now you can’t name any particular because you’re going to be in front of them. But nominated by Barack Obama, even some George W. Bush ones weren’t so hot frankly.
Wilcox: You’re right.
Leahy: Are federal district court judges upholding the rule of law when it comes to immigration law?
Wilcox: Actually, we’ve taken a page under the opposition’s playbook. Under the Trump years, they went to California and they would file all their cases in California.
Leahy: Because the 9th district court is filled with judicial lunatics. This is my words, not yours.
Wilcox: Yes.
Leahy: Because you may appear before them someday.
Wilcox: Right. So we have been bringing our cases in the Fifth Circuit down in Texas. God bless Texas.
Leahy: God bless Texas. Everyone says God bless Texas, Tennessee, and Florida these days. And we are three and zero in Texas in federal courts.
Leahy: Undefeated. The Biden administration tried to defer deportations for 100 days after their administration started. And the federal court knocked that out and enjoined them from doing that.
And then they tried to end Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy. And we took that all the way to the Supreme Court here recently. And the Supreme Court refused to stay the lower courts injunction of Biden withdrawing that.
Leahy: You’re getting into some legalese, but it makes sense. It’s a win. It’s a win, at least temporarily.
Wilcox: Yes.
Leahy: And the whole court thing plays out over years. I saw a report, however, from Just the News. You probably know John Solomon, from Just the News that the Biden administration is going to try again to end the Remain in Mexico policy.
Wilcox: Yes, they are. And we will be there again to sue them.
Leahy: What’s their angle this time?
Wilcox: The court had said that they violated the APA.
Leahy: The Administrative Procedures Act of 1950.
Wilcox: Correct.
Leahy: I know you look, how do you know that? I am a big fan of Philip Hamburger, Columbia Law School professor. The whole angle of bureaucrats is out of control, deep state in essence.
Wilcox: The court ruled that the administration just can’t willy nilly the Remain in Mexico program. They have to go through the correct procedure to end it.
Leahy: Follow the law you mean?
Wilcox: You have to follow the law. So they’re going to try again. But we’ll be there to argue under the APA that it’s arbitrary and capricious to end it. And why would you end it when it was so effective?
Leahy: Actually, you’ve answered the question. The Biden administration in my view is intentionally attempting to destroy American immigration law and the country at the same time. It is not an accident. They are not incompetent. This is intentional destruction of the rule of law in America, in my view.
Wilcox: My view also is that for years, I’ve been saying the endgame and we’re a nonpartisan group will work with anybody, any candidate, any politician who wants immigration policies.
Sadly, the Democrats have almost wholesale given up on any kind of, you look back, 25 years ago, Bill Clinton was railing on illegal immigration. Nancy Pelosi voted for the wall in 2006.
Leahy: They all want illegal immigration now.
Wilcox: For years, I’ve been speaking on what they’re doing is they’re importing potential future voters because they’re losing the American people. So we need to find voters elsewhere.
Leahy: You are so cynical.
Wilcox: Yeah, I’m so sorry. (Leahy laughs) But, hey, it gets worse. I agree with your assessment. I’ve come to the realization lately, there are politicians in this country who hate America. Who hate what we stand for. Who hate the flag, who hate patriotism, and they hate our history, and they want to destabilize America so that they can reset.
Leahy: Yeah, exactly. I completely agree. And it’s one of these things where you look at it and say how could this happen? Well, it’s happening, folks.
Wilcox: It is. It is. And the people need to make their voices heard. And I would particularly encourage people to contact their AGs. Your attorney general and tell them to get involved in these cases. Paxton, down in Texas has been fabulous.
Leahy: Herb Slattery, attorney general in Tennessee, are you listening? I hope he’s listening Dale.
Wilcox: Well, you know, Tennessee has tried.
Leahy: Dale Wilcox, the executive director and general counsel of Immigration Reform Law Institute, thanks so much for joining us. And good luck with those lawsuits. I hope you win in court.
Wilcox: Thank you for having me.
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
