White House slams House DACA bill

The White House slammed GOP legislation that would sunset the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as unreasonable, and vowing it would never become law.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the bill, set for a House vote Friday evening, failed to responsibly address the flow of child migrants across the border and could result in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of young migrants granted waivers.

“The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program prioritizes the limited resources of the Department of Homeland Security to deport dangerous criminals rather than DREAMers,” the statement read.

“It is extraordinary that House Republicans are demanding that we reverse that prioritization as a price for getting the resources needed to deal with the urgent humanitarian situation at the border, reduce the immigration court backlog, and address the root cause of child migration.”

GOP leaders included a separate vote on DACA legislation as a way to win conservative support for a $694 million border funding measure that passed the chamber minutes earlier with nearly exclusive Republican support.

Leaders also had to strengthen their original DACA proposal after some Republicans balked at the original language. Under the new language set to receive a vote, the bill would freeze all funding for new applicants under DACA, or under any similar deportation deferral program.

Earnest said the GOP bill would not address the influx of nearly 60,000 child migrants across the border, and “is sure to be rejected by the Senate.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already said he will not take up the bill.

Instead, Earnest called on Republicans to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

“The President will urge Congress to fix our broken immigration system once and for all upon returning from their recess by doing what the Senate did over a year ago and pass serious, comprehensive immigration reform legislation with bipartisan support,” the statement said.