The Press Enterprise: House votes against protections for young immigrants
Today’s House vote to halt an Obama administration program that provides temporary legalization for many young undocumented immigrants is an ominous sign for the enactment of a comprehensive-immigration-reform law.
The Obama administration last year began a program that provides a deportation reprieve for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children, are 30 years old or younger and meet other conditions. More than 290,000 people have been approved for the program since August.
Protections for young undocumented immigrants are among the most popular parts of immigration reform proposals, and the House vote against them indicates how difficult it will be to get a larger immigration bill passed.
The Senate next week is expected to debate a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants of all ages, with less stringent requirements for young immigrants.
The measure approved by the House today is an amendment to a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. It faces an uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled Senate and certain opposition from Obama, so chances are slim to none it will be enacted into law.
The 224-201 vote was almost entirely along party lines. Inland Republican Reps. Gary Miller, Ken Calvert, Duncan Hunter and Paul Cook voted for it. Democratic Reps. Mark Takano, Raul Ruiz and Gloria Negrete McLeod voted against it.
Takano and Ruiz released strongly worded statements against the amendment.
Takano said that by allowing the deportations of the young people covered under the Obama administration program, resources would be diverted from “those who pose a danger to national security or public safety.”
Ruiz called the amendment “political gamesmanship at its worst and a disgrace to the institution of the United States Congress. This ideologically driven provision injects needless divisiveness into an otherwise strong, bipartisan bill and punishes hundreds of thousands of young DREAMers who are in the United States through no fault of their own and make tremendous contributions to our communities and the only country they call home.”