WASHINGTON — Rep. Will Hurd of Texas is part of a last-ditch effort by a bipartisan group of lawmakers to protect young immigrants from deportation.

On Wednesday, the San Antonio Republican joined Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) and California Reps. Pete Aguilar and Jeff Denham in announcing that they’re attempting to force the House to debate four proposals for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

President Donald Trump scrapped the program last fall.

The group says they have the backing of nearly 240 House members, well over the 218 needed to invoke a rarely used procedure known as the "queen of the hill" rule. Members would vote on a resolution to bring four bills to the floor without committees or leadership. The bill with the highest number of votes exceeding 218 would be sent to the Senate.

Now is the time to vote to secure our border and provide a permanent legislative fix for #DACA recipients. Learn more about the #QueenoftheHill rule: https://t.co/sKhkDHQjKq pic.twitter.com/yKzbH1DILp — Rep. Will Hurd (@HurdOnTheHill) April 18, 2018

“There is a bipartisan solution to this problem,” Hurd said “This ‘queen of the hill’ is something that we use once a year for the budget, and it’s been used for other pieces of legislation.”

But the group is not using their leverage yet to go around leadership. Denham said they were “considering options,” including a discharge petition to force legislation onto the floor without leadership approval.

There are nearly 800,000 DACA recipients, often referred to as Dreamers, across the country — including about 124,000 in Texas. The program is limited to people who arrived as children before June 15, 2007.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates that 1.3 million people met the criteria in 2017, though many chose not to sign up out of fear the government would be able to track them down if the program ended.

Last September, Trump announced that he would shut the program down as of March 5, arguing that his predecessor didn’t have the authority to grant permanent legal status. He called on Congress to find a permanent solution to protect Dreamers from deportation, but that hasn’t happened.

During budget talks, Trump tried to wrest $25 billion from Congress to build a border wall in exchange for providing DACA recipients a path to citizenship. Few lawmakers supported that idea.

Hurd said he'd likely support one of the four proposals — a measure by Denham that is expected to include Hurd's "USA Act." The bill, which has bipartisan support, would create a permanent solution for DACA recipients and implement border security measures through technology and some "physical barriers."

The resolution includes three additional bills for lawmakers to vote on: The Trump-backed "Securing America's Future Act," the "DREAM Act" preferred by Democrats, and an immigration bill of Speaker Paul Ryan's choice.

Immigration groups are backing the effort to pass the "Queen of the Hill" resolution. On Wednesday, 188 organizations called on Ryan to hold a vote on the Dream Act.

“We applaud the bipartisan effort led by Rep. Aguilar and Rep. Denham on the “Queen of the Hill” resolution to fix the crisis President Trump created and to respect the will of the American people,” the signed statement read.

Aguilar, a Democrat and whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the three slots were given to members who have “significant support” for their immigration-related proposals.

Denham, a Republican, said passing the resolution will allow for “a full debate” of the DACA program, but he noted that Ryan would have the final say in what bills get to the House floor.

“We’re going to continue to show the speaker and the president that the will of the House, the will of people is right here on demanding a vote,” Denham said, adding that he expects the amount of support will catch Trump’s attention.

Ryan pushed aside the possibility of including DACA in February’s budget deal because he said he wouldn’t want “to just risk a veto” from Trump.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court let DACA stay in place as challenges work through lower courts.

Hurd said his constituents want a secure border and a permanent solution for Dreamers. And he is hopeful that Trump would sign a DACA bill into law.

“Let’s have a permanent legislative fix for over a million young men and women who have only known the United States of America as a home,” he said, adding, “I actually believe the president wants to see this get done.”