President Barack Obama is turning up the heat against Republican efforts to cancel his immigration policies, scheduling a White House meeting Wednesday with a half-dozen Dreamers – illegal immigrants brought to America as children and granted temporary amnesty two years ago.
The sit-down will take place with Dreamers from Texas, Maryland, Nevada, Connecticut, New York and Virginia, a White House official
told The Washington Times.
"The meeting takes place as Congressional Republicans are threatening to block funding for critical national security priorities for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because they disagree with the President’s executive actions to make our immigration system smarter, fairer, and more effective," the official said, the Times reports.
"Instead of working with Democrats and the president to fix our broken immigration system, Congressional Republicans’ funding proposal makes things worse by undercutting our efforts to strengthen security at the border and by focusing our enforcement resources on deporting low priority individuals like the young Dreamers who are meeting with the president."
Dreamers – brought to the United States as children by their parents – were granted amnesty in 2012 by executive action, but
Obama's latest action both expanded that program and created a new amnesty for illegal immigrants whose children are either citizens or legal permanent residents.
Congressional Republicans charge the the president overstepped his authority in granting tentative legal status and work permits; the House passed a spending bill cancelling both the 2012 and 2014 amnesties, while providing funding for the rest of the Homeland Security Department.
Senate Democrats filibustered the Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday, blocking it from reaching the floor for debate and leaving the department in danger of a partial shutdown later this month as they and Republicans fight over immigration policy.
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