Updated 07:49 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Immigration Reform 2014: President Obama Condemns House After They Pass $694 Million Bill Focused on Deporting Youth and Immigrants With Work Permits

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In a late vote Friday, the House Republicans voted to pass the more restrictive version of legislation to address the border crisis, with $694 million now slated to be used in part to send home immigrant youth without hearings. A companion bill tacked onto the restrictive funding bill also focuses on deporting more than half a million immigrants, whom President Obama granted temporary work permits.

In turn, President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he would proceed with executive action as best he could.

"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."

The 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 also passed with a vote of 216-192.

The first border bill stalled among Republicans, as discord among the conservative and more liberal party members grew. The stalemate on the initial bill to address emergency funding came after a group of about two dozen conservative tea party lawmakers, led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, gathered to discuss ways to push back against approving the package earlier this week.

"People were not happy with the bill that the House leadership has," said Representative Michele Bachmann, according the New York Times. "There wasn't any support in the room."

A day after GOP leaders pulled the initial border bill from the floor, tea party lawmakers -- who had emphatically opposed the original bill -- were on board for the new $694 million version, as well as a companion measure that would effectively shut down DACA, a program created by Obama, which granted work permits to immigrants brought here illegally as children.

That companion bill will also be devastating to the more than 700,000 people who've already obtained work permits under the program. The terms of the tacked-on bill will prevent those with work permits from renewing them, which will in turn make them subject to deportation.

"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."

Although the bill may have passed the House, the measures are unlikely to become law. The White House, most Democrats and nearly all immigration activists are strongly opposed the bills, which would be incredibly restrictive to reform measures.

The President did not allow the news of the bill's passage to deter his focus on executive action, stating that he would continue to "reallocate resources" where he could.

The move to pass coincides with the first day of lawmakers' five-week summer recess, which was delayed by GOP leaders as they attempted to pass a version of the bill before August break. 

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