GOP Compromise Immigration Bill Defeated on House Floor

A sprawling, compromise GOP immigration bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants while directing $25 billion for the construction of President Trump’s border wall failed in the House on Wednesday, despite encouragement from the president for Republicans to support it.

The bill was overwhelmingly rejected 301-121, in part because some Republicans are reluctant to vote for any bill they worry could be portrayed as “amnesty.”

More than 100 Republicans voted against the legislation.

Earlier Wednesday, the president called for Republicans to pass the “strong but fair immigration bill,” saying that “passage will show that we want strong borders & security while the Dems want open borders.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., labeled the legislation “a great consensus bill” and tried putting the best face on the likely outcome.

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But on Friday, Trump initially suggested he was giving up trying to get a bill approved before the election, saying a “red wave” is needed to pass an immigration bill in Congress.

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The Republican compromise voted on Wednesday would have provided a shot at citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. It would provide $25 billion for Trump to build his coveted wall with Mexico, restrict family-based immigration and bar the Homeland Security Department from taking migrant children from parents seized crossing into the country without authorization.

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But those amendments didn’t remove the key stumbling block — the reluctance by conservatives to back legislation helping people who arrived illegally become citizens. {snip}