House GOP Prepares Expansive Rollback of Obama’s Immigration Policy

Wall Street Journal

By Laura Meckler and Kristina Peterson

January 9, 2015

House GOP Prepares Expansive Rollback of Obama’s Immigration Policy 

House Republicans said Friday they would vote in the coming week on an expansive rollback of President Barack Obama ’s immigration policy, subjecting more illegal immigrants to deportation and unraveling policies that prioritize removing criminals and recent border crossers.

The package would attempt to undo not only Mr. Obama’s November move to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, but also a 2012 action protecting young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Those changes will be offered as amendments to legislation funding the Homeland Security Department through September under a GOP leadership plan that took shape Friday.

The proposals were a bow to conservatives angry over Mr. Obama’s executive action on immigration, which they see as an unconstitutional overreach of presidential power, though some proposals that would choke off executive power even further were shelved for the moment.

“Our primary goal is to defund what the president did. What he did wasn’t lawful,” said Rep. Austin Scott (R., Ga.). “I know I’m going to vote for it.”

The GOP plan enraged Democrats and immigration advocates, who charged that Republicans were singularly focused on deporting people and predicted the move would alienate Hispanic voters. “Only three words describe the Republican approach to immigrants: deportation, deportation, deportation,” said Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D., Ill.).

As the House completed its plans, it became clear that the measure would face long, maybe impossible, odds in the Senate, as several centrist Democrats signaled they would vote against efforts to choke off the president’s executive actions.

Late last year, Republicans funded the Homeland Security department only through February in hopes of using the agency’s funding as a lever to force change on immigration once the GOP controlled both houses of Congress. But the bill will need 60 votes to clear the Senate, meaning at least six Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents would have to vote for it.

The package taking shape in the House represents an expansive pushback against the president. It would kill his plan, announced in November, to temporarily shield millions of people from deportation, primarily parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the U.S. for at least five years. It would also kill a 2012 program that offered similar shelter to people brought to the U.S. illegally as children—a sharp turn from two years ago, when leading House Republicans were discussing a GOP version of the Dream Act, which offers a permanent legal status for this group.

In addition, the plan would roll back Mr. Obama’s directive to prioritize deportation of recent border crossers and those with serious criminal records—a policy that gives a measure of security to illegal immigrants who don’t meet those criteria. It was also expected to revive the Secure Communities program, which uses local law enforcement to hold illegal immigrants they encounter. In November, Mr. Obama replaced that program with a notification policy.

A GOP leadership aide said the proposal would also prevent future executive actions, though the mechanics weren’t clear.

Several Democratic senators who had been critical of Mr. Obama’s move to bypass Congress said they wouldn’t support the GOP effort.

“I’m not looking for a political fight, I’m looking to solve a problem,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D., N.D.) said in a statement. An aide said the senator is likely to oppose any Homeland Security spending bill that blocks the executive action. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, is also opposed, said his spokeswoman, Kathleen Connery Dawe. “Sen. King does not support the House bill to defund the president’s executive action on immigration,” she said. “Withholding funds from the Department of Homeland Security would be particularly dangerous at a time of world-wide terrorist threats.”

An aide said Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) would likely vote against the House bill, and a spokesman for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.), who voiced concerns about executive action this fall, said she opposes defunding Mr. Obama’s November action. An aide to Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said she believes “the only responsible way for Republicans to supercede this executive order is to finally consider, debate and vote on comprehensive immigration reform.”

Even if it were to pass both chambers, the plan would certainly draw a presidential veto, and neither house has the votes to override that. Republicans said the prospect that the bill would falter in the Senate shouldn’t preclude them from trying to pass their favored approach now.

Democrats and some Republicans have said that Congress is unlikely to allow Homeland Security funding to expire, particularly given the heightened terrorism concerns raised by the massacre in Paris. But some Republicans said the same factors would put Democrats in a pinch.

“The president and a lot of Democrats are going to have a very hard time being against it, quite honestly. You look at what’s going on in Paris as we stand here, obviously Homeland Security is a very high priority,” said Rep. Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.). “Securing the homeland ought to be a much higher priority than ensuring easier access for undocumented workers to come across our border.”

Mr. Cramer noted that because Homeland Security funding isn’t slated to expire until Feb. 27, there is enough time for more than one proposal to be considered.

“It’s not like this is the last step in the process. This is the first step in the process,” he said.

The House is expected to vote on the bill and its amendments next Tuesday or Wednesday.

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