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House Republicans voted to try to block President Barack Obama from easing the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, including those brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

The 236-191 vote today goes beyond Republicans pledge to reverse the presidents November orders shielding about 5 million people in the U.S. from deportation.

The measure also seeks to block a 2012 Obama directive addressing young undocumented immigrants and a series of memos starting in 2011 that said terrorists and criminals should be deported first. House Speaker John Boehner and other leaders agreed to include those measures, which were sought by Tea Party-aligned members.

Boehner said during floor debate that Obamas actions were not a good-faith attempt at immigration reform.

We are dealing with a president who has ignored the people, ignored the Constitution, and even his own past statements, said Boehner, maintaining Obama had said at least 22 times he didnt have the authority to take such actions.

The vote is the start of negotiations with the Senate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which expires at the end of February. Even Boehner allies say the broader measure has little chance of success because Senate Democrats are unlikely to support it and Obama would veto it.

Theres going to have to be an element of bipartisanship someplace to get anything done, said Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole, a Republican and an ally of Boehner. At least the initial positioning of bargaining will be what we want.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement that the bill wont pass in his chamber. House Republicans are picking an unnecessary political fight that risks shutting down the Department of Homeland Security and endangering our security, he said.

Two Democrats, Brad Ashford of Nebraska and Collin Peterson of Minnesota, voted with 234 Republicans for the bill, while 10 Republicans voted with 181 Democrats against it.

One Republican who opposed the measure, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, said in an interview, this is not going to happen because it wouldnt survive an Obama veto.

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House Votes to Undo Obama Immigration Changes on Spending Bill

As the 114th Congress begins and President Obama enters the final years of his presidency, the opportunity to marshal our political will to pass immigration reform should not be squandered.

Whatever the merits, the President's executive action to defer certain classes of deportations emerged from a sense of frustration over Congress' failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Ongoing dithering in Washington burdens the millions who live within the shadows of our society, seeking employment to pay rent and feed their families, send their children to schools and become active members of American society at large.

The previous Congress made some progress, with the U.S. Senate in 2013 passing, with strong bipartisan support, an historic bill that set the stage for a complete overhaul of America's broken immigration system. But the House did not adopt a companion bill.

Commitment among our own political leadership, essential to achieving substantive immigration reform, is only one piece of the equation.

Immigration transcends both domestic and foreign policy challenges, so it is critically important to understand why and how immigrants continue to strive to come, often at great personal risk, as well as the government policies in the countries they are fleeing. Concerned governments should take responsibility for their roles and cooperate at the highest levels.

In this regard, it was highly significant that El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras recently announced, at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington, D.C., together with the U.S., the creation of a joint initiative, the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle. The alliance aims to provide greater economic opportunities, enhance security and improve governance, and make public institutions more transparent and accountable in each of the three Central American countries. This initiative can potentially curtail the emigration flow, which today exceeds the number of Mexicans crossing the U.S. border. Due to high crime and poverty, almost one in 10 citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras has emigrated, mostly to the U.S., according to the IADB.

"Our countries are linked by family, friendship, by trade, by simple geography," said Vice President Joe Biden at the Alliance launch.

The triangle development plan follows upon the spike over the summer in the number of undocumented minors coming into the U.S., more than 54,000, the latest manifestation of a ceaseless flow of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. through its southern border. The large numbers of minors reflects a new level of desperation. What parents would knowingly send their kids on such an unknown, risky journey? And though media and others labeled them unaccompanied, they surely were not alone, but handled by "coyotes" and other shady agents.

Diplomats, policy experts, scholars, journalists, activists and government officials have come together with the American Jewish Committee and the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston this week to discuss not only the critical need for immigration reform but also the shared responsibility for developing and implementing effective policies.

Indecision is harmful and unproductive. Washington must not hesitate further in passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation that creates a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented, provides opportunities for them to succeed and reunite with family members left behind. At the same time, the U.S. should deepen cooperation with Latin American allies to improve their own economies and security to convince those contemplating emigration to instead stay put.

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Maybe a step closer to immigration reform - Houston Chronicle

It's been nearly 2 months since President Obama announced his executive orders on immigration reform but so far no applications have been made available. There are nearly 7,000 undocumented immigrants in Hawaii.

Click here to watch Roger Mari's report.

"I'd love to move forward. I think it's frustrating for people who have been waiting a long time and finally have the opportunity to do something even though it's temporary,"says Clare Hanusz, Immigration Attorney

For now, there is little immigration attorney Clare Hanusz can do to help her more than 30 clients to remain legally in the United States. In the meantime there are ways to prepare for when an application is made available which she says could take months.

"Get lists of the kinds of documents that they should be preparing in anticipation of filing the applications," says Hanusz.

"Some of those documents, you might have to send away for like your birth certificate for example and that could be slow," says Stanley Bain, Faith Action for Community Equity, Organizer.

It's an especially difficult time for those who have already started the process of becoming legal immigrants. They are now left to make life changing decisions.

"They have to weigh, do I go to the Philippines or do I go to Mexico and wait this out? And, leave my wife and children behind or do I stay here and just try to fly under the radar until congress passes something or until the president issues something," says Hanusz.

Those who plan to go through the application process should be aware that there could be schemers looking to defraud unsuspecting immigrants

"It's less a problem in Hawaii but it's still a problem. We know of people on the big island, we know of people operating in Chinatown claiming to know immigration law and give advice they really don't know," says Hanusz.

The rest is here:
Immigration reform bring Illegal Hawaii immigrants to the forefront

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is trying to win the messaging war on immigration.

The conservative Republican and chief critic of President Barack Obamas executive actions on immigration is sending around a detailed and lengthy memo that encourages fellow GOP lawmakers to block the unilateral moves, even arguing that Congress response to what he calls this emergency will define its legacy.

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Congress has the power to stop this action by denying funds for its implementation, Sessions writes in the memo sent to GOP congressional offices this week. Surely, Congress must not allow the president a single dime to carry out an illegal order that Congress has rejected and which supplants the laws Congress has passed.

The 25-page document is meant to frame the GOPs thinking on immigration in advance of the partys joint retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania, during a week when House Republicans are set to pass a plan that would fund the Department of Homeland Security while killing Obamas executive actions on immigration. His aides spent much of Monday hand-delivering the memo to all GOP offices on the Hill.

The text on so-called executive amnesty makes up a fraction of the memo from Sessions, who distributed a similar document before last years House Republican as leadership unveiled their long-awaited list of principles on immigration reform. Those principles ultimately went nowhere.

The document also touches on what Sessions called the enforcement collapse of immigration laws under the Obama administration, as well as immigrations impact on the economy and welfare, and what Sessions termed the Silicon Valley STEM hoax the argument that the nation faces a shortage of high-skilled American workers to fill tech jobs. It also includes polling on immigration policies and suggestions for messaging.

But Sessions views on immigration, particularly on limiting the number of legal immigrants into the United States, runs counter to many in his own party who advocate for reforms to the current system to allow more immigrant workers into the United States, both high-skilled and lower-skilled.

Simply put, we have more jobseekers than jobs, Sessions writes. It is astonishing, therefore, that prominent members[of] Congress wish to see record immigration levels increased yet further.

Still, its the GOP response to Obamas executive actions that will be at the forefront of Congress agenda this week.

Read the rest here:
Sessions: Not 'a single dime' for Obama's immigration moves

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama wont sign legislation currently being mulled in the House that would fund the Department of Homeland Security but undo nearly everything he has done while in office to address immigration reform. The legislation, being pushed by conservatives, stands little of chance of making it to Obama because it wont be able to garner enough votes in the Senate.

The president's immigration accountability executive actions strengthen our border security, ensure undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents pass background checks to obtain temporary relief from removal, and require everyone to play by the same rules, the Office of Management and Budget said in the official veto threat.

If a deal cant be reached by Feb. 27, the agency tasked with protecting the nations borders and preventing a terrorist attack could be forced to shut down-- or at least partially shut down since much of its services are considered essential and immune to a lack of funding.

Its part of a Republican strategy to undo Obamas executive actions signed last year that will provide legal status to an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants. The GOP decided to fund DHS only until Feb. 27 to give it leverage to pressure Obama to reverse his executive actions.

But instead of trying to chip away at just the one piece signed by Obama last year, House Republicans have decided to go after all of the presidents changes to immigration policy. It also would undo changes Obama made for so-called dreamers, illegal immigrant children who were brought to the country by their parents.

The effort by House Republicans is likely to fail in the Senate.Sixty votes will be needed to pass the bill, meaning it would also need Democrats. That is very unlikely to happen.

But the lack of support in the Senate and the veto threat will likely do little to change votes in the House. It seems House GOP leadership has decided this wont be its fight. The newly crowned Senate Republican majority can figure it out.

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White House Threatens Immigration, DHS Funding Veto