The House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines Thursday morning to defund an Obama administration policy that focuses deportation efforts on undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes and defers deportation proceedings against immigrants brought without legal documents to the United States as children by their parents. These immigrants are often referred to as DREAMers because this policy would be made permanent by the DREAM Act , which has so far failed to clear Congress.

Sponsored by Republican Rep. Steven King of Iowa, the defunding measure was attached as an amendment to appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. He and other Republicans have opposed the policy since it was introduced in June 2012. The administration argues that the policy—known as the Morton Memos after John Morton, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under DHS—is simply an exercise of prosecutorial discretion in deportation cases. That, the White House says, has been standard procedure for more than 30 years in immigration cases under the DHS and its predecessors.



"The point here is… the President does not have the authority to waive immigration law, nor does he have the authority to create it out of thin air, and he's done both with these Morton memos in this respect," King said. King added that while the government has prosecutorial discretion, Obama does not have the authority to create classes of people who are exempt from the law through an Executive Order.

Those affected by the deferred deportation policy had to arrive in the States before they were 16 years old, be high school graduates or have served in the military. And they can't have a criminal rap sheet.

Chances are the amendment will not pass muster in the Senate where DHS appropriations from the House must be negotiated.

Democratic Reps. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, Nick Rahall of West Virginia and John Barrow of Georgia voted with the Republicans for the amendment.