WASHINGTON — House Republicans revived their bill on the U.S.-Mexico border crisis in dramatic fashion Friday, passing it on a near party-line vote after winning over conservatives with tough new provisions that could threaten deportation for hundreds of thousands of immigrants already working in this country legally. President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he’d act unilaterally, as best he could.
A day after GOP leaders pulled the border bill from the floor in a chaotic retreat, tea party lawmakers were enthusiastically on board with the new $694 million version and a companion measure that would shut off a program created by Obama granting work permits to immigrants brought here illegally as kids. The second bill also seemed designed to prevent the more than 700,000 people who’ve already gotten work permits under the program from renewing them, ultimately making them subject to deportation.
The spending bill passed 223-189 late Friday, with only four Republicans voting “no” and one Democrat voting “yes.” A vote on the second measure was expected later in the night.
“It’s dealing with the issue that the American people care about more than any other, and that is stopping the invasion of illegal foreign nationals into our country,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. “And we got to yes.”
But Obama said no. “They’re not even trying to solve the problem,” the president said. “I’m going to have to act alone, because we do not have enough resources.”
Obama said he would reallocate resources where he could, while making clear his options were limited without congressional action.
The moves in the House came on what was to have been the first day of lawmakers’ five-week summer recess, delayed by GOP leaders after their vote plans unexpectedly collapsed on Thursday. Senators had already left Washington after killing their own legislation on the border crisis, so there was no prospect of reaching a final deal.
But three months before midterm elections, House Republicans were determined to show that they, at least, could take action to address the crisis involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors fleeing violence and poverty in Central America to cross illegally into South Texas.
“It would be irresponsible and unstatesmanlike to head home for the month without passing a bill to address this serious, present crisis on the border,” said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
To reach a deal, GOP leaders had to satisfy the demands of a group of a dozen or more conservative lawmakers who were meeting behind the scenes with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and taking their cues from outside groups such as the Heritage Foundation that opposed earlier versions of the legislation.
These lawmakers objected to sending any more money to Obama without a strong stance against his two-year-old deportation relief program, which Republicans blame for causing the current border crisis by creating the perception that once here, young migrants would be allowed to stay — a point the administration disputes.
House GOP leaders agreed earlier in the week to hold a separate vote to prevent Obama from expanding the deportation relief program, but that didn’t satisfy conservatives who held out for stronger steps.
Thursday night, those lawmakers huddled in the basement of the Capitol with new House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., until coming up with a deal ending funding for the deportation relief program as well as making changes to the border bill aimed at ensuring the faster removal of the Central American migrant youths.
Friday morning, as the full Republican caucus met in the Capitol, conservative lawmakers were declaring victory.
“I’m very satisfied,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the leading immigration hardliner in the House.
In the end Republicans only lost four of the most conservative members on the vote: Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Paul Broun of Georgia, Stephen Fincher of Tennessee and Walter Jones of North Carolina. The only Democrat to support the bill was moderate Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas.
The GOP plans met with howls of protest from immigration advocates and Democrats, who warned Republicans that they’d be alienating Latino voters for years to come.
“If you tell people that you think they’re criminals, that you think they’re simply bringing diseases, that they’re bringing drugs, then you treat them as invaders, they kind of think you don’t like them,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. “They’re going to believe you don’t like them, and they’re not going to vote for you.”
The new GOP border bill adds $35 million more for the National Guard, which would go to reimburse states for guard deployments. Like earlier versions, it would increase spending for overwhelmed border agencies, add more immigration judges and detention spaces, and alter a 2008 anti-trafficking law to permit Central American kids to be sent back home without deportation hearings. That process is currently permitted only for unaccompanied minors arriving from Mexico and Canada.
The bill would pay for strapped border agencies only for the final two months of this budget year, falling far short of the $3.7 billion Obama initially requested to deal with the crisis into next year. More than 57,000 unaccompanied youths have arrived since October, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, plus tens of thousands more migrants traveling as families.
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Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, David Espo, Alan Fram, Stephen Ohlemacher, Jim Kuhnhenn and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
