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WASHINGTON – Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., today voted in favor of legislation that would defund President Obama’s executive actions on immigration in their entirety. H.R. 240, which would fund the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of fiscal year 2015, passed the House by a vote of 236 to 191. 

“Breaking the law to enter the United States should not be rewarded, but that’s exactly what President Obama did when he announced plans to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens through executive actions,” said Foxx. “This legislation will put a stop to the president’s unlawful, unilateral actions, which are a blatant overreach of his Constitutionally-granted executive authority. It is the responsibility of Congress to pursue reforms and ensure a strong immigration policy, and we should begin by securing our borders.”

Prior to passage of the bill, the House approved five amendments specifically designed to stop President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration. As a result, the legislation would prevent any funds, whether they are appropriated funds or user fees collected by the agency, to implement the president’s executive amnesty that was announced on Nov. 20, 2014, bar the use of funds to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, and ensure that convicted sex offenders and domestic violence perpetrators are priorities for removal by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The legislation also expresses the sense of Congress that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services should stop putting the interests of unlawful immigrants ahead of legal immigrants as well as expresses the sense of Congress that the administration should not pursue policies that disadvantage the hiring of U.S. citizens and those lawfully present in the United States by making it economically advantageous to hire workers who came to the country illegally, such as granting deferred action and work authorization to illegal immigrants.

Additionally the legislation would provide funds to enhance border security, provides for stringent oversight, increases transparency within the Department of Homeland Security and bolsters immigration and customs enforcement.

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U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx is currently serving her sixth term as the representative of North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District and is the elected Republican Conference Secretary. Dr. Foxx is the chair of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and serves as Vice Chair of the House Rules Committee.