House votes for bills addressing immigration crisis

Herrera Beutler pleased House passed bundle

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, joined the majority of her party Friday night in voting for a pair of measures meant to improve the border crisis.

The House delayed its scheduled August recess to vote on an emergency funding package to address the influx of children crossing into the U.S. An initial attempt at a vote was delayed after it was clear the more conservative members of the Republican party would not sign on to the measure.

The revised package included emergency funding but also a separate bill to limit the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals, which prevents the deportation of certain people who came to the U.S. as children. Democrats reportedly blasted the separate bill as mean-spirited and draconian.

Herrera Beutler said she is still hoping the House can enact a “complete fix for our broken immigration system.”

But the current situation, she said, is “a humanitarian crisis that requires immediate action.”

Herrera Beutler joined her party’s leaders in criticizing the U.S. President’s policies as exacerbating the crisis.

The congresswoman lauded the House Republican package as one that will “help clean up the mess by sealing the border, enforcing current law, and ensuring … young people are returned to their home countries as quickly and humanely as possible.”

She said she was pleased the House delayed its recess to vote on the bills. Without a plan from Congress, she noted, “federal agencies will begin running out of money in August to deal with the crisis.”

— Lauren Dake

WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed legislation late Friday to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border by sending migrant youths back home without hearings, winning over conservatives with a companion bill that could lead to deporting more than half a million immigrants whom the Obama administration granted temporary work permits. 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.” The measure ending Obama’s deportation relief program passed 216-192, with 11 Republican “no” votes and four Democrats crossing party lines to vote in favor.

“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,” he 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 administration already has taken steps including re-ordering immigration court dockets and boosting enforcement measures.

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 is no prospect of a final deal. But three months before midterm elections, House Republicans were determined to show that they, at least, could address the crisis involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors fleeing violence and poverty in Central America.

“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 cues from outside groups such as the Heritage Foundation.

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 a perception that once here, young migrants would be allowed to stay — a point the administration disputes.

“I’m very satisfied,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the leading immigration hardliner in the House.

With the vote to end the deferral program, “We will put a handcuff on one of the president’s hands,” said Bachmann.

Democrats also accused Republicans of handing control of their policies to the most conservative lawmakers in the House, within months of abandoning pledges to act on broad-based legislation to overhaul U.S. immigration policy.