House to vote on high-stakes, longshot GOP immigration bills after sparks fly between top Republicans

Tucker: The Left doesn't believe Americas has the right to stop poor people from coming over our southern border under any circumstances, legal or not. Most voters disagree with that. It would be nice to have an honest national debate about this before the midterm elections. But that's the last thing Democrats want. They'd lose. So instead they're whipping their supporters into a frenzy of mindless rage. #Tucker
The House of Representatives is barreling toward votes on two major Trump-backed immigration proposals Thursday, but both bills appeared to have little chance of passage as tensions between feuding GOP factions boiled over this week.
For congressional Republicans -- who suffered an embarrassing defeat last year in a failed vote to repeal key elements of ObamaCare -- securing immigration reform has been a key goal ahead of November's midterm elections.
The stakes for the votes are particularly high, as they will come just one day after President Donald Trump signed a surprise executive order to end the separations of families who illegally enter the country.
One of the bills, a compromise approach branded by Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., as the "president's bill," would appropriate funding for Trump's proposed border wall, to the tune of $25 billion. It would also provide a pathway to citizenship for nearly 1.8 million so-called "Dreamers," illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age.
The other bill up for a vote Thursday, put together by House Judiciary Chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., takes a more conservative approach. It would afford the nearly 700,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients only a temporarily protected legal status that could be indefinitely renewed, rather than a full pathway to citizenship.

Protections for recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are at stake in the two House votes.  (AP)

And it would authorize approximately $25 billion for the border wall and security on the border -- but the money would not formally be appropriated, which a senior House GOP leadership aide told Fox News was important to the president.
Neither solution faces good odds Thursday. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the influential conservative House Freedom Caucus, openly derided the compromise approach Wednesday.

“The compromise bill is not ready for prime time,” Meadows told reporters. “There are things that were supposed to be in the compromise bill that are not in the compromise bill that we had all agreed to.”
LIVID MARK MEADOWS CONFRONTS PAUL RYAN ON HOUSE FLOOR
In a dramatic moment Wednesday, a visibly irate Meadows directly confronted House Speaker Paul Ryan on immigration on the floor of the House, as both Republicans gestured at one another. Sources told Fox News that the dispute stemmed from confusion over which of two immigration bills the House is expected to consider Thursday.
At one point, Meadows said simply, "I'm done! I'm done!" and walked away.
WATCH THE CONFRONTATION ON THE HOUSE FLOOR:
Multiple Republican members told Fox News they were disturbed by the skirmish between Ryan and Meadows. One source said a few members who were a "hard yes" on the immigration legislation were now "squirming" after seeing the confrontation.
Adding to the confusion, the House has also been toying with a third piece of legislation, a modified version of the conservative Goodlatte bill.
Goodlatte told Fox News the modified bill creates a new merit-based immigration category and expands the eligible DACA population.
“We would vote for the modified Goodlatte bill, and we would prefer that because we think it has a better chance of getting a higher vote count,” Meadows said Tuesday night.
Holding a vote on the conservative Goodlatte bill is important for the House leadership, because it would defuse additional efforts by the House Freedom Caucus to derail the vote on the comprehensive federal farm bill set for some point this week. The farm bill would include tighter welfare restrictions.

Advocates of so-called Dreamers, who arrived in the US as young children, protest outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C.  (Reuters)

The conservative Freedom Caucus had threatened to hold up a vote on the farm bill without a vote on the conservative Goodlatte immigration bill.
But on Wednesday, a senior House GOP source told Fox News that getting the necessary votes to pass either bill would be an uphill battle.

Democrat 'welcomes' VP Pence to Philadelphia with one-finger salute

A Philadelphia legislator stirred controversy for a social media post of him flipping off Vice President Mike Pence.  (Facebook)

A Pennsylvania state lawmaker posted a mocking “welcome” to Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday, accompanied by a stiff middle-finger salute.
The post by state Rep. Brian Sims, a Democrat from Philadelphia, came as Pence was in town for a fundraising event for the Republican Governors Association, PhillyVoice reported. The event drew scores of protesters.
Sims, 39, who is Pennsylvania's first openly gay state legislator, apparently saw an opportunity to please his base of supporters.
“OFFICIAL WELCOME: @MikePenceVP let me be the first to officially welcome you to the City of Brotherly Love and to my District!” Sims’ Facebook and Twitter post read. “We’re a City of soaring diversity. We believe in the power of all people: Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Atheist, & Immigrant. So…get bent, then get out!”
Social media reactions to Sims’ post fell along partisan lines, with some applauding his audacity and others criticizing what they saw as a lack of respect for the vice president, Philadelphia's FOX 29 reported.
“Thank you. More of this please. Anger is required for change,” one user wrote.
Another found it “disturbing that a publicly elected Representative finds this type of social media content appropriate.”
It also appeared to extend a trend on the political left of embracing vulgarity and profanity, exemplified by recent remarks about the Trump administration from comedian Samantha Bee and actor Robert De Niro.
Despite public backlash, Sims has not deleted the post. As of Wednesday evening it had received more than 5,000 retweets and 25,000 likes.
Sims has reputation for taking on Internet trolls.
Last year, when a Facebook user identified as “David,” posted something offensive on Sims’ page, Sims called David’s grandmother to tell her what her grandson had done.
“David, I can’t tell if you’re just a really dumb little boy or an angry bigot but I know for sure that you shouldn’t have posted your grandmother’s telephone number on your Facebook page,” Sims replied on the post. “She and I just had a very disappointing chat about you.”
The stunt earned Sims accolades.  

DOJ employee among those heckling DHS boss Nielsen, report says

Allison Hrabar, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who attended the protest against Nielsen over the controversial border law enforcement, was revealed to be a paralegal specialist at the DOJ.  (Twitter)

One of the socialist protesters who accosted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday at a Mexican restaurant has been exposed as a Department of Justice employee.
Allison Hrabar, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who attended the protest against Nielsen over the controversial border law enforcement, was revealed to be a paralegal specialist at the DOJ, the Washington Examiner reported.
“It feels really good to confront people who are actually responsible, which is what we have a unique opportunity to do in D.C.,” the DOJ worker told the outlet.

“It feels really good to confront people who are actually responsible, which is what we have a unique opportunity to do in D.C."

Nielsen had to face an angry group of socialist protesters who repeatedly shouted “Shame!” as she attended a work dinner at a swanky Mexican restaurant in the nation's capital.
VIDEO SHOWS DHS BOSS KIRSTJEN NIELSEN BEING HECKLED, HARASSED AT DC RESTAURANT

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen seen dining Tuesday evening while the security guards are keeping the protesters away.  (Facebook)

“If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace,” another protester was heard yelling at the protest.
“How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you’re deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people that come here seeking asylum in the United States?” another one shouted.

“If you see these people in public, you should remind them that they shouldn’t have peace.”
- Allison Hrabar, DOJ paralegal specialist

Hrabar wasn’t bothered by her association with the DOJ, citing her protected First Amendment rights to protest anyone outside her work hours. She went on to encourage people to confront officials in public places.
“If you see these people in public, you should remind them that they shouldn’t have peace,” she said. “We aren’t the only ones who can do this. Anyone who sees Kirstjen Nielsen at dinner, anyone who sees anyone who works at DHS and ICE at dinner can confront them like this, and that’s what we hope this will inspire people to do.”
But according to the Daily Caller, Hrabar has made a habit of using social media to send political messages during her work hours, including celebrating the protest.
“Keeping families together in jail is not an acceptable solution,” she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
In another tweet, she reportedly wrote: “No one who has ever made their living terrorizing immigrants deserves peace. If you see one in a restaurant, at a movie, or in your neighborhood, remind them of that.”
Her Twitter account has since been locked and made private.

Trump to propose merging Labor, Education departments, report says

The Trump administration is set to propose merging the Labor Department with the Education Department, according to reports.  (REUTERS, File)

The Trump administration will propose merging the Labor Department with the Education Department as part of a larger effort to reorganize the federal government, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.
The formal announcement is planned for Thursday morning, but the Journal reports that any planned reorganization must be approved by Congress.
The reported proposal is a revival of long-held conservative ambitions dating back at least two decades. In the 1990s, Republican lawmakers proposed merging the Education and Labor departments with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The new agency would have been dubbed the Department of Education and Employment, but such plans never got off the ground.
According to the Journal, the Education Department is one of the smallest agencies of the federal government, with approximately 3,900 employees. The paper reports that its workforce has shrunk by 10 percent as the result of a hiring freeze instituted by President Trump soon after he took office.
The department was one of three government agencies Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry promised to eliminate during the 2012 campaign. The proposal was overshadowed when Perry, now the secretary of energy, forgot the name of one of the agencies during a televised debate.
The Labor Department has a reported 15,000 employees and has a variety of responsibilities, including compiling employment statistics and enforcing federal wage laws.

Immigration Cartoons

Backlash against border policy grows, but furor could help Trump in midterms

In the blink of an eye, the uproar over immigration has become a major midterm election issue.
And that's precisely the way President Trump wants it.
With some prominent Republicans and conservative media outlets slamming the president's policy of separating migrant families at the border, you might have thought the White House would be looking to quickly defuse the controversy.
That's not happening.
In fact, Politico reports that Stephen Miller and other top administration officials are planning a further crackdown on legal and legal immigration, with the goal, according to a Republican close to the White House, being "to arm Trump with enough data and statistics by early September to show voters that he fulfilled his immigration promises — even without a border wall or any other congressional measure."
The GOP plan had been to run on tax cuts and a booming economy. But the president has apparently decided that he needs to motivate his base voters to show up in what is shaping up as a tough election.
As Corey Lewandowski, who works for Mike Pence's PAC, told The New York Times: "People don't turn out to say thank you. If you want to get people motivated, you've got to give them a reason to vote. Saying 'build the wall and stop illegals from coming in and killing American citizens' gives them an important issue."
And the president stuck to his guns yesterday, saying that the problem is migrants who bring their kids to the border but that Congress can resolve the issue.
Obviously, pounding away at illegal immigration—from the day he came down the Trump Tower escalator—worked well for the president in the last campaign.
But just as obviously, the child separation issue makes the overall issue risky this time around, beyond the impact on the Hispanic vote. You can just imagine the 30-second ads, complete with audio now that ProPublica has put out the sounds of crying children being taken from their parents.
That's not likely to play well with suburban moms. And that's why some Republican lawmakers, including Ted Cruz, are speaking out against the practice. (Trump yesterday rejected Cruz’s bill to hire more immigration judges as a way of keeping detained families together.) GOP congressman Fred Upton said that "it's time for this ugly and inhumane practice to end," according to the Washington Post.
The press is aflame over this issue, which is drawing almost wall-to-wall coverage on cable news. White House reporters hammered Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday as she insisted the administration had no choice in the matter and was merely following the law. (A bunch of Democrats are urging her to resign.)
And many on the right are offering harsh criticism. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, a Trump loyalist, said that family separation could become "the Republicans' new Katrina." A Wall Street Journal editorial decried "The GOP's Immigration Meltdown," saying "restrictionists may cost Republicans their majorities in Congress."
But other conservatives, including Fox’s Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, are backing the president’s “zero tolerance” approach and saying the media aren’t devoting enough attention to crime and other problems created by some illegal immigrants.
Trump says he hates migrant kids being separated from parents but has no choice. (The media point out that's not true, but it's also true that conditions in the much-criticized warehousing facilities date to the Obama administration.) The president's wife says the administration must govern with "heart."
But while 66 percent in a Quinnipiac poll say they oppose the family separation policy, 55 percent of Republicans are backing Trump's stance. That's why an approach that is poison to a good chunk of the political and media world could be a bracing tonic for the president's supporters in the midterms.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author "Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth." Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Video shows DHS boss Kirstjen Nielsen being heckled, harassed at DC restaurant

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Jan. 16, 2018.  (Associated Press)

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was accosted by an angry socialist mob and forced out of a Mexican restaurant in Washington on Tuesday evening amid backlash over the federal government's “zero-tolerance” stand at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The video, posted by the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, shows a group of protesters harassing Nielsen at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, a restaurant near the White House.
“Shame!,” one protester shouts at Nielsen.
“If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace,” another yells.

“Kirstjen Nielsen, you’re a villain! Lock her up!”

“Kirstjen Nielsen, you’re a villain! Lock her up!” a third says.
“How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you’re deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people that come here seeking asylum in the United States?” another person is heard yelling. “We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE.”
Another protester had a problem with Nielsen’s choice of where to dine.
“In a Mexican restaurant, of all places!,” the heckler shouts. “The f-----g gall!”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen seen dining Tuesday evening while the security guards are keeping the protesters away.  (Facebook)

The protesters also played an audio clip of crying children at the facilities after being reportedly taken away from their parents who attempted to cross the border illegally.
“How does that make you feel?” one socialist activist asks. “Do you hear the babies crying?”
A separate video captures Nielsen eventually leaving the restaurant. Some protesters are seen speaking with police officers, another video shows.
The group defended its actions Tuesday, saying “We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace, while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border.”
“Secretary Nielsen and everyone else who has carried out these brutal and cold-blooded orders to rip apart families should never be allowed to eat and drink in public again. These barbarous acts must end and those at the helm must be held accountable. While Secretary Nielsen’s dinner may have been ruined, it is nothing compared to the horrors she has inflicted on innocent families,” the statement posted on Facebook added.
DHS press secretary Tyler Q. Houlton said Nielsen was having “a work dinner” at the time and faced protesters who “share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border.”
“[Secretary Nielsen] encourages all – including this group – who want to see an immigration system that works, contributes to our economy, protects our security, & reflects our values reach out to Members & seek their support to close immigration loopholes that made our system a mess,” Houlton continued.
“The Secretary has been working with Members of Congress for months in search of a solution and she will continue to do so this week.”

“The Secretary has been working with Members of Congress for months in search of a solution and she will continue to do so this week.”
- Tyler Q. Houlton, press secretary, Department of Homeland Security

The Trump administration has been facing a backlash over the rollout of the “zero-tolerance” policy that led to at least 2,000 young children being separated from their parents after they crossed the border illegally.
Top Republicans in Congress are scrambling to come up with a legislative solution to the controversy. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Fox News that a solution could be coming in a "matter of days."

Immigration tensions boil over as Dems accost Trump, intern curses at president

Tensions over illegal immigration and family separations at the border boiled over on Capitol Hill Tuesday night, as President Trump was met with profanity and heckling, blue-faced Democrats on his way to a meeting with House Republicans.
First, as President Trump's entourage made its way to House Speaker Paul Ryan's office, a congressional intern yelled, "Mr. President, F--k you!" across the Capitol Rotunda.
It was unclear whether Trump heard the remark. The incident occured after visiting hours.
Then, several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) gathered outside Trump's meeting with senior Republican officials. When Trump emerged, the representatives heckled him until some were blue in the face, holding signs and screaming.

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, center, and other Democratic lawmakers shouted at Trump.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

TRUMP HUDDLES WITH HOUSE GOP AS OUTRAGE OVER BORDER SEPARATIONS ESCALATES
Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., the chair of the CHC, called the separation of children from their families at the border the "worst thing" she has ever seen in her career.
"This is an unusual commander-in-chief ... it appears to me he doesn’t care about the consequences," Grisham said. "He uses incredibly offensive language to defend his policies."
Grisham defended her colleagues' decision to shout at the president and stage a dramatic protest as he left the meeting with Republican officials.

Trump met with top GOP leaders to talk immigration on Capitol Hill Tuesday night -- and got a wild reception.  (AP)

"This is a very unique set of circumstances, and it requires a unique set of extraordinary efforts," she said.
The outward hostility by members of Congress to a sitting president was highly unusual, and drew comparisons to Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who made international headlines by interrupting former President Barack Obama in 2009 and shouting, "You lie."
But Grisham told Fox News the treatment of Trump was different, because the policies at the border are particularly "inhumane."
Two congressmen -- Juan Vargas, D-Calif., and Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla. -- also engaged in a verbal altercation in the hallway outside Trump's meeting.

"This is a very unique set of circumstances, and it requires a unique set of extraordinary efforts."

Then, during his discussions with House GOP members, Trump made a dismissive remark concerning Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., who recently lost a key primary in a race that became a referendum on his repeated, harsh criticisms of the president.
Two sources in the meeting room told The Associated Press that Trump joked: "I want to congratulate Mark on a great race."
A senior House Republican who is a Trump supporter told Fox News that the president's comment was "unnecessary" and "poor form." Another senior GOP lawmaker called it a "low blow."
Another GOP member told Fox News the room got "pretty quiet" after the remark and some attendees booed in a low tone of voice.
Despite the brouhaha, top Republicans said there had been progress on a legislative solution to the separation of illegal immigrant children from their parents at the border.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Fox News that a solution could be coming in a "matter of days."
Fox News' Chad Pergram, Samuel Chamberlain and Anne Ball contributed to this eport.
Gregg Re is an editor for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @gregg_re.

FBI may have modified witness reports, misled DOJ watchdog with 'false information,' GOP Rep says

The FBI may have "edited and changed" key witness reports in the Hillary Clinton and Russia investigations, a top House Republican charged in a hearing into FBI and Justice Department misconduct Tuesday.
Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, also raised the possibility that the FBI misled the DOJ watchdog in an attempt to hide the identities of FBI employees who were caught sending anti-Trump messages.
The House Judiciary and Oversight committees were questioning Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz over his bombshell report into FBI and DOJ misconduct during the Hillary Clinton email probe.
"The other thing that I would ask you to look into, there is growing evidence that 302s were edited and changed,” Meadows told Horowitz. “Those 302s, it is suggested that they were changed to either prosecute or not prosecute individuals. And that is very troubling.”
OTHER HEARING DRAMA: DEM REP WARNS OF GOP PLOT TO OUST DEPUTY AG ROSENSTEIN 'ON FRIDAY'
So-called "302s" are reports on witness interviews compiled by federal investigators. Horowitz said later he has additional information suggesting that the witness reports were changed after-the-fact in both the Clinton and Russia probes -- a particularly alarming possibility given the IG report's findings of bias in those investigations.
Horowitz suggested that the IG is reviewing information concerning modified 302s, saying his office intended to "follow up" on the matter.
In a dramatic moment, Meadows then directly asked Horowitz whether two anonymous FBI employees identified as making anti-Trump statements in the IG's report were named Kevin Clinesmith and Sally Moyer.
Horowitz refused to confirm the employees' identities, which the FBI has declined to publicly reveal, citing the supposed sensitivity of their counterintelligence matters.
But Meadows suggested that justification may have been a sham.

"If that’s the reason the FBI is giving, they’re giving you false information."

“They don’t work in counterintelligence," Meadows said. "If that’s the reason the FBI is giving, they’re giving you false information, because they work for the [FBI] general counsel."
SEVEN KEY TAKEWAYS FROM DOJ IG REPORT ON CLINTON PROBE MISCONDUCT
In the IG report released last Thursday, the two unnamed anti-Trump FBI employees reacted with shock and dismay at Trump's election.
“I am numb," one wrote on Election Day. “Viva le resistance,” the lawyer wrote later, in response to what he would do now that Trump had won.
Gregg Re is an editor for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @gregg_re.

Mexico's America Cartoons