Immigration Crisis at the Border: House Republicans Vote to End DACA and Deport DREAMers
In an attempt to rally support for a funding bill as well as he alleged executive overreaches, Republicans in the House have voted to defund DACA and prevent the creation of more DREAMers.
The immigration crisis at the border pushed Republicans to vote for a new funding bill that will help pay for the processing of undocumented children crossing the border, according to The New York Times. However, to gather enough votes for the bill to pass, the Republican leadership conceded to its more extreme members's demands.
The second bill passed will freeze the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and will work towards winding it down. If the bill is made into law, President Obama will not be able to add new children to the program, and those in the program will not be able to renew their status.
In effect, House Republicans have voted for the impending deportation of young undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers. According to the Roll Call blog, the bill passed with a 216-192 vote, which included four Democrats voting in favor of it: Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, John Barrow of Georgia, and Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia.
Roll Call adds that eight Republicans voted with the Democrats opposing the bill: Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Jeff Denham of California, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Mike Coffman of Colorado, David Valadao of California, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, David Reichert of Washington, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Joe Heck of Nevada, Mark Amodei of Nevada, and Fred Upton of Michigan.
However, the Democratic-controlled Senate will not debate the bill until after the August recess. In the unlikely event the Senate passes the bill, the president will veto it.
But, the Republican's attempt to woo more conservative party members with this bill worked. The Huffington Post reported that the House passed a bill to fund the immigration crisis at the border, giving the government $659 million, far less than the President's requested $3.7 billion.
In response to House Republicans, the White House issued a harsh criticism:
"The legislation put forward tonight by House Republicans does not responsibly address the problem of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border, and could result in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of DREAMers, young people who were brought to this country as children and are Americans in every way but on paper," read the statement.
It went on to explain the important role DACA plays in helping legitimate candidates become DREAMers, going on to chastise House GOP members for exacting a price on the resources needed to alleviate the crisis at the border.
"The President will urge Congress to fix our broken immigration system once and for all upon returning from their recess by doing what the Senate did over a year ago and pass serious, comprehensive immigration reform legislation with bipartisan support," the statement concluded.
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