Yesterday The Republicans-- Plus 3 ConservaDems-- Voted To Get Busy Deporting Latinos

The overall bill was for appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security and that passed 245-182, 25 Democrats joining all but 10 Republicans in favor. The Democrats who crossed the aisle and voted for the bill were mostly a bunch of New Dem scum like Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), John Barrow (GA), Bill Owens (NY), Brad Schneider (IL), Ami Bera (CA), Mike McIntyre (NC), Joe Garcia (FL), Ron Barber (AZ)... all the usual suspects backing the toxic GOP agenda. But the real problem was the amendment voted on earlier in the morning and offered by Iowa racist and neo-fascist Steve King. King's amendment defunds the Obama Administration DREAMer policy, which prioritizes deporting criminals instead of students.

Republicans have argued that these orders amount to the selective enforcement of U.S. immigration laws that discourages enforcement against children who were brought to the United States illegally, or illegal immigrant adults who are not in any legal trouble. Many Republicans have dubbed Obama's orders as "administrative amnesty."

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) sponsored the amendment to the 2014 Department of Homeland Security spending bill, and called for its passage in late Wednesday debate by saying Obama's orders-- also known as the Morton memos-- violate the Constitution.

"The point here is… the President does not have the authority to waive immigration law, nor does he have the authority to create it out of thin air, and he's done both with these Morton memos in this respect," King said.

King added that while the government has prosecutorial discretion, Obama does not have the authority to create classes of people who are exempt from the law through an executive order.

Democrats said King's language is a "poison pill" that would not survive final passage, and that the Supreme Court has ruled that the executive branch has the right to prioritize cases through an order.

"So for the gentleman to argue that there is some constitutional infirmity with deferred action is wrong," Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said in response to King's arguments. "He's wrong on the law. He's wrong on his constitutional argument."

It passed by a much narrower margin, 224-201, only 3 of the most conservative Democrats in the House going along-- while half a dozen Republicans opposed Boehner and Cantor and cross the aisle to vote with the Democrats against it. The three Democrats backing the racist proposal:

• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)
• Nick Rahall (confused-WV)

It will be interesting, of course, when the DCCC attacks Republicans for voting to deport Latinos. I mean they should attack Republicans on this vote but the fact that DCCC chairman Steve Israel is promising Barrow and McIntyre as much as $2 million each for their reelection campaign... well it really does smack of hypocrisy, especially when the DCCC says something to the effect of "send us money so we can defeat the evil deporters" and then gives millions to... evil deporters. Last cycle, he DCCC (and their House Majority PAC) spent $1,080,748 saving Barrow's ass from a weak opponent. This year he's likely to have a much tougher and better funded opponent. And last year, the DCCC's $2,005,888, propelled McIntyre to the narrowest of victories-- 165,590 to 167,057... just 533 votes. His opponent of last year, David Rouzer, is running again and will be much better funded. Maybe Barrow and McIntyre shouldn't be catering to Republican voters who want to replace them and think a little bit about Democratic voters who have few reasons to bother turning out on election day.

So someone still thinks there's any chance in hell the House will pass a comprehensive immigration bill? There are enough teabaggers and racists in the GOP caucus to keep even Republicans who understand the demographic tidal wave heading for places like Texas from backing any policy towards undocumented immigrants other than deportation. Period.

In response to the vote, United We Dream Managing Director Cristina Jimenez released the following statement:

“Representative Steve King, an anti-immigrant extremist with a history of attacking our community, is up to his old tricks. Late last night, Rep. King filed an amendment to block funding to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which narrowly passed this morning. Our community, the immigrant youth movement, fought and won a huge victory last year with the deferred action policy. Now, some House Republicans are making their demands clear—a return to deporting DREAMers!

This is an outrage and the exact opposite of what our country needs from its political leaders. Does Speaker Boehner want to follow Rep. Steve King’s lead and seal his party’s fate as an out-of-touch, extremist party that has forever marginalized the immigrant and Latino community? Or will the House take a new direction and pass immigration reform that not only stops the deportations of DREAMers and our families but also creates a clear path to citizenship? It’s up to them. DREAMers will not let politicians get away with this.

Starting next week, United We Dream will once again bring dozens of DREAMers to Washington, D.C. to confront and challenge politicians who are blocking our path to citizenship and harming our community. We will be holding Senate and House negotiators from both parties responsible for protecting provisions that matter deeply to our families. We won’t settle for anything less than a clear path to citizenship, family unity, and an end to the deportations of DREAMers and our families.”

The White House statement was more succinct:

As the Senate prepares to debate bipartisan commonsense immigration reform next week, House Republicans chose to spend today passing an extreme amendment to strip protections from “Dreamers.” These are productive members of society who were brought here as young children, grew up in our communities, and became American in every way but on paper. This amendment, sponsored by Representative Steve King, runs contrary to our most deeply-held values as Americans. It asks law enforcement to treat these Dreamers the same way as they would violent criminals. It’s wrong. It’s not who we are. And it will not become law.

And Karl Rove warned Republicans that they could be sealing their fate for years to come. "Republicans must consider the impressions they will create," especially among Hispanic voters, Rove said Thursday in a Wall Street Journal column. "There is growing public support for providing a pathway to citizenship for those now in the country illegally."

Rove made note of how important the immigration issue could be to Republicans in future elections by pointing out that 58 percent of Hispanics seem immigration reform as one of the most important issues facing the country, topping everything else.

"A January Latino Decisions survey suggested that 42 percent of Hispanics would vote Republican or be more likely to if the GOP 'took a lead role' in passing comprehensive reform with a path to citizenship," he wrote.

"Many Hispanics won't be open to Republicans until it is resolved," Rove added.