Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday rejected a House bill that would have blocked President Obama from stemming deportations or allowing millions of illegal immigrants to obtain work permits and federal benefits.
“I will not bring this bill up for a vote in the Senate since it tears families apart while doing nothing to fix the real problems we face,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said after the House vote.
The House voted along party lines, 219-197, to declare that Obama’s Nov. 20 directive on immigration was unconstitutional. It’s a largely symbolic move, however, since Democrats back Obama’s executive action and it won’t be considered in the Senate.
Democrats Thursday criticized the GOP for failing to take up a comprehensive immigration reform bill that Obama said would have made executive action unnecessary.
“In the face of Republicans’ failure to act, President Obama has used his well-established legal and constitutional authority to bring our immigration system back into line with our needs as a nation and our values as a people,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said during the debate on the measure.
Democrats hope to use the immigration issue to monopolize the support of Hispanics, who make up a critical voting bloc.
Part of Obama’s executive action is aimed at providing legal status to young people who came to the United States illegally when they were children. The executive order puts in place legislation Congress tried, but failed, to pass, known as the Dream Act.
Obama’s directive could affect as many as 5 million people now living here illegally, and Democrats are eager to portray the GOP’s stance as anti-Hispanic.
“Instead of voting on the Senate’s bipartisan bill to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system, House Republicans voted once again to deport Dreamers and their families,” Reid said.
