A conservative rebellion forced House leaders to pull their border bill from consideration on Thursday, leaving the GOP in disarray and putting pressure on President Obama to try to handle the situation without any extra money or powers from Congress.
Republican leaders in the House vowed to “continue” working on the crisis, and said it was “possible” they could still vote later Thursday, but the prospects appeared dim. Unless they come up with a solution in a few hours, they will go home for a five-week summer vacation leaving Mr. Obama to have to figure solutions out on his own.
“This situation shows the intense concern within our conference — and among the American people — about the need to ensure the security of our borders and the president’s refusal to faithfully execute our laws,” the GOP leaders said in a joint statement. “There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries.”
The House bill had included only a fifth of the money Mr. Obama requested, and had included a number of changes to existing law that would have made it easier to deport illegal immigrant children surging across the border. And under pressure, GOP leaders even scheduled a vote on a bill to freeze the president’s non-deportation policy for young adults.
But House conservatives, pushed by high-profile Sens. Jeff Sessions and Ted Cruz, said the measures didn’t go far enough in rolling back Mr. Obama’s previous non-deportation policies such as his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and forcing deportation of more illegal immigrants.
