The US House of Representatives has soundly rejected an immigration reform bill, despite a last-minute intervention by Donald Trump to overcome the deep internal divisions that have fractured Republicans on this issue for more than a decade.

In a embarrassing defeat, more than 100 Republicans joined Democrats to reject the bill in a vote of 121-301. The measure was designed to meet Trump’s hardline vision of the US immigration system, including funding for a border wall and increased interior enforcement against undocumented immigrants.

After the vote, a group of centrist Republicans, who triggered the latest push for immigration reform, expressed their dismay that weeks of negotiating with rightist conservatives failed to produce a viable plan.

“What we witnessed today was a minority of Republicans joining every Democrat in the House to double down on a failed, broken, inefficient, unfair and at times cruel immigration system,” congressman Carlos Curbelo, a Republican from Florida, said after the vote.

Congressman Jeff Denham, a Republican from California, said Wednesday’s failure showed that immigration reform must be a bipartisan effort.

“What was obvious today is that Republicans cannot pass a 218-[vote] Republican bill, just as Democrats couldn’t in 2010,” he said, vowing that this was not the end of the road for their immigration push.

Curbelo noted that a majority of Republicans supported a plan that would offer undocumented young immigrants, known as Dreamers, a pathway to citizenship, suggesting that such a provision could be a part of future bipartisan negotiations.

The lawmakers declined to provide details on their next move. Republicans are likely to turn next to a more narrow plan that would end the separations of migrant families at the border, a Trump administration practice that drew fierce international condemnation. Senators are also considering a plan that would address this issue, though it is unlikely to happen before the Fourth of July recess.

The so-called “compromise” plan was brokered by GOP leadership in an effort to stave off a revolt led by Curbelo, Denham and other moderate Republicans who represent districts with large Hispanic constituencies. GOP leaders successfully kept them from forcing a series of votes on immigration bills that may have passed with a majority of Democratic support but failed to find consensus among their ranks.

The measure evolved to address two urgent crises triggered by Trump’s hardline immigration agenda: his cancellation of a program that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, known as Dreamers, and the “zero-tolerance” policy which led to the family separations.

As proposed, the measure would have included $25bn for Trump’s long-sought wall along the southern border – though Trump had promised during the campaign that Mexico would pay for its construction. It would also limit legal immigration, provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and end family separations.

Republican leader twice delayed a vote on the measure last week after Trump advised Republicans to “stop wasting their time” on a bill that could not pass the Senate.

Hours before the afternoon vote, however, Trump urged Republicans to pass the legislation to show voters that “WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME”.



After the vote, Trump laid responsibility for the defeat on Democrats, who have expressed frustration at being excluded from the negotiating process.

“You’re not going to get the Democrats to vote for anything,” Trump told reporters. “We can give them 100% of what they wanted, and double it, they still wouldn’t pass it.”

He added that the issue of immigration would be “a great election point” for Republicans. “I think strong borders and no crime, that’s us,” he said.