House Republicans Go Big on Immigration Fight

In a series of votes this week, the House GOP will protest nearly every major immigration executive action by President Obama in the past few years, threatening millions of immigrants who came to the country illegally with deportation.

The plan has no chance of passage; enough Democratic and moderate Republican senators have stated their opposition and the White House threatened to veto the bill on Monday. But a week after two-dozen Republicans voted to oust House Speaker John Boehner from his perch, the House GOP leadership has earned a respite of praise from conservatives and its rank-and-file for its approach in opposing the President and funding the Department of Homeland Security past its February 27 deadline.

“Clearly this is where we want to be,” said Florida Republican Rep. Tom Rooney, a member of the Appropriations Committee. “I want [Obama] to veto what we send up there so at least there is a clear distinction between what we think our constituents want to do versus what the president’s willing to do. Who’s responsibility is it now if DHS gets shut down? Is it the person who just vetoed it or is it the Republicans in the House who amended it to take his executive order out? I’d like to have that fight.”

“I voted for Boehner—and I haven’t been a big fan—but to his credit they’ve been reaching out,” said Arizona Republican Rep. Matt Salmon, noting that the 12 vote “toe-hold” another candidate for Speaker received was not due to his conservatives bona fides, but his message of inclusivity. “I think it’s symbolic of where we’re going to be…I think it’s very emblematic of the fact that leadership is actually listening to what we’re saying.”

Photos: Documenting Immigration From Both Sides of the Border

The House GOP package, expected to be voted on Wednesday, would stop more than Obama’s most recent immigration executive actions temporarily delaying deportations for up to five million undocumented immigrants, including parents of U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident children for at least five years, by rolling back 2011 memos that expanded what immigration officials should consider in deferring deportations. Another amendment would defund a 2012 program that provides similar protection to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought here illegally as children.

The strategy goes way beyond what was expected—simply, directly challenging the November White House actions—and is more likely to fail. But by voting on the package this week, the GOP leadership has given its members enough time to be on the record with their ultimate pipedream before having to recalibrate. It also may shift the House conservatives’ blame from their leadership to conservatives in the Senate.

“This is an opportunity for some of the people on the Senate side who are itching for a fight, like [Texas Republican Senator] Ted Cruz and others, to show what they can do,” says Salmon. When reminded that it’s clear the new GOP-controlled Senate can’t reach the requisite 60 votes, Rooney replied that it “kind of ticks me off, to be honest with you.”

The moves could further alienate Republicans from a Hispanic population that had been frustrated with a president who delayed his promises last year and oversaw a high level of deportation in his first six-years. However, House and even Senate Republicans have little political incentive to act on issues of Hispanic importance: The party would “probably” have held onto the House even if they lost every Hispanic voter in the midterms, according to a New York Times election analysis, and still have had a “real chance” to take over the Senate. Of course, it’s another story in taking back the White House, which would allow Republicans to roll back Obama’s executive actions with the stroke of a pen.

Boehner said on Tuesday morning that the debate over how to fund DHS is not about immigration, but about the president “acting lawlessly” and violating the “Constitution itself.” He also declined to tip his hand on whether or not he would allow a vote on a DHS funding bill without the aforementioned amendments before the February deadline.

“Our goal here is to fund the Department of Homeland Security,” said Boehner. “Our second goal is to stop the president’s executive overreach.”

Democrats ripped the Republicans’ package as poor policy and politics, noting that it was only a year ago when the House GOP announced its immigration principles, including legal residence and citizenship for children illegally brought to American “through no fault of their own.”

“I mean how do you go from that to this,” said Illinois Democrat Rep. Louis Gutierrez, a vocal immigration reform advocate. “It is much more extreme than anything I expected—and I expect almost anything from Republicans when it comes to immigration,” he added, before wondering aloud how “such a small band of Republicans” could “jeopardize” the party’s national positioning for a bill that wouldn’t become law.