As MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Buzzfeed's Adrian Carrasquillo discussed on
All In this Wednesday, this isn't going to help the Republicans with their Univision problem, or their issues with Latino voters in the next election. They just went on record for mass deportation and to throw all of the Dreamers out of the country.
House passes bill to defund Obama’s immigration orders:
The House voted Wednesday to block funding for President Obama’s immigration orders, firing the first shot in a high-stakes battle over deferred deportations for the millions of people who are in the country illegally.
The measure passed in a 236-191 vote, with 10 Republicans voting against it and two Democrats voting in favor.
Democrats rallied against the bill, which would fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through September, after Republicans adopted a series of contentious amendments that take aim at facets of Obama’s immigration policy.
One of the amendments would choke off funding for Obama’s executive action announced in November, which would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country and obtain work permits.
A second amendment would halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA), which lifts deportation for some illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children.
The defunding amendment was adopted in a 237-190 vote, with seven Republicans voting no, while the DACA amendment was approved 218-209, with 26 Republicans defecting.
House Democrats were unified in opposition to both provisions. Read on...
Here's more from TPM: GOP House Passes Bill Setting Up New Shutdown War Over Immigration:
Government shutdown wars are back with a vengeance.
House Republicans teed up a new standoff on Wednesday with passage of legislation that overturns President Barack Obama's executive actions on deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants. [...]
The legislation is an aggressive opening bid from the House. It's unlikely to pass the Senate, where Democrats appear to have the votes to filibuster. It also faces a veto threat from the White House. House GOP leadership aides privately acknowledge that their bill may not go any further in its current form.
Adding to the precariousness of the GOP position, cutting off funding for DHS is likely to have the most adverse impact on border security and deportations, which Republicans favor, and minimal impact on the elements of DHS' work that Obama's executive action covers, which are funded through fees.
"If somebody were writing a play about this and they wanted to put a perverse circumstance in it that gave the president this smirk authority over the Congress, this is what we've done," Rep. Steve King (R-IA), a leading for of immigration reform, told TPM recently.
The passage of the House bill puts Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a difficult position — the first big test for the new Senate majority leader.
Some Republican senators are uneasy with how far the bill goes — it rolls back Obama's recently announced immigration actions to shield more than 4 million people, as well as his popular 2012 program to protect young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Many Senate Republicans have little appetite for a divisive battle on immigration.
"Members are discussing [what to do]," a Senate GOP leadership aide said after the House vote. [...]
In an unusual move, a faction of relative moderate House Republicans mounted a mini-rebellion against what one of them, Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), described as conservative overreach. But the revolt failed as the contentious amendment by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to sunset the 2012 Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals program passed with 26 Republicans opposed. "Look, I think our party needs to start offering solutions," Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who voted against the anti-DACA amendment but in favor of final passage of the bill, told TPM. "But now I think, you know, once you have kids that are basically registered, now the government has their name and address, got them to come forward — and then to turn around and say it's not going to be renewed. ... I just think it's the wrong message to send for our party."
Denham voted against the final bill. "I don't believe this is the right place to have the immigration debate," he said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We are overreaching into an area that goes above and beyond what we’re trying to accomplish with the Homeland Security bill." Read on...
