A massive weekend raid netted several hundred illegal immigrants who were either car wash workers or customers in Phoenix, according to immigrant-rights groups who say the move highlights the ongoing tensions within President Obama’s deportation policy.
Even as Capitol Hill lawmakers debate whether to move on an immigration bill this year, many immigrant-rights advocates are lobbying Mr. Obama to halt all deportations, and they have picked several cases to make a stand.
Just last week, activists in Ohio demanded a halt to the deportation of a man whose son suffers from cerebral palsy. The Obama administration complied, granting him a one-year stay.
With Congress on vacation, the immigration debate has shifted away from Washington and to the home districts of House lawmakers, and to Republicans in particular, who are wrestling with how to tackle the issue.
GOP leaders in the House have signaled they’ll try to have legislation on the chamber floor in October, and will take up a series of bills, including improving border security and interior enforcement, rewriting the legal immigration system and at least some effort at legalizing young adult illegal immigrants.
Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats, though, have said an explicit path to citizenship for most of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. is a non-negotiable ingredient for any bill to clear Congress.
Some Republicans have embraced it, but most appear to be saying they agree with parts of it, but want to see the House go its own route.
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