Immigration battle begins in Congress

Repubilcans, who outnumber Democrats, eventually passed the bill out of committee by a vote of 18-12.

“You abandoned our bipartisan partnership on border security in favor of a partisan approach,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee ranking member said.

The GOP’s bigger problem may be within their own party.

Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, authored the bill, which centers around a requirement that the Department of Homeland Security secure the nation’s southwestern border within five years and gain “operational control,” within two years.

McCaul called the legislation the toughest border security measure produced by Congress, and lawmakers in the new GOP-led Senate announced they plan to offer a companion bill.

Republican leaders had anticipated widespread support for the McCaul measure among even conservative GOP lawmakers, who have clamored for a bill strictly dealing with border enforcement.

But conservatives say the border bill is flawed and doesn’t go far enough to stop illegal entrants from remaining in the United States.

“We cannot be satisfied with measures that create the appearance of doing something while changing little,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a top member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement opposing the McCaul measure.

House conservatives voiced similar concerns.

Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Arizona, said current laws prohibiting illegal immigration are not being enforced and passing new legislation won’t do anything to fix the problem.

Salmon also wants the legislation to address the lack of interior enforcement of immigration laws, which the McCaul bill does not include.

McCaul and Republicans leaders said interior enforcement falls under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee, which will draft its own reform legislation to address those issues.

“Why couldn’t it be more coordinated?” Salmon said Wednesday at a gathering of House conservatives. “That’s a frustration.”

At the heart of the GOP division is the lack of a plan to block Obama’s executive actions allowing millions of illegal immigrants to obtain work permits and access to some federal benefits.

The House passed a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security that includes provisions blocking Obama’s executive moves, but it will likely stall in the Senate, where the GOP-majority falls six votes short of preventing a Democratic filibuster.

Conservatives want assurances from the GOP leadership that they’ll keep pushing for legislation that defunds Obama’s executive action. But they fear Republican leaders will back down in order to avoid a spending showdown with Democrats and the president.

“We had better stand firm,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Wednesday.

Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, said some GOP lawmakers are mistakenly comparing the border security bill to a different measure introduced last year by McCaul that conservatives said wasn’t strong enough.

“There are some people attacking the bill, not having read the bill,” Labrador said.

McCaul’s latest measure was introduced just this week. In addition to setting time limits for securing the border, the legislation calls for completion of the southern border fence by filling in and completing miles of existing gaps and constructing 27 miles of new fencing. It would also allow border patrol agents access to restricted federal lands that are used by illegal immigrants to sneak into the country. And it would require implementing new biometric identity security measures at all points of entry into the United States within five years.

Democrats told McCaul they opposed the measure because it was being rushed through the committee.

But McCaul, who represents a border district, said his constituents are demanding Congress act to stop the influx of tens of thousands illegal immigrants cross into Texas each year.

“My constituents are fed up with this,” McCaul said. “I don’t think we need any more hearings on this. I don’t think we need any more debates on this issue.”