Story highlights A new bill would substantially increase federal and local immigration enforcement

The contentious debate will continue into next week

Washington (CNN) Democrats and Republicans on Thursday faced off over immigration policy as a House committee began considering a set of immigration bills that Democrats say would amount to the creation of a "mass deportation force."

Proponents of the first bill under consideration by the House judiciary committee -- named after two law enforcement officers who were allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant -- advocated for the bill as important to public safety and rule of law.

But Democrats on the committee decried the bill as an unnecessarily harsh anti-immigrant push by President Donald Trump.

"Proponents of this bill say that it's necessary to keep us safe, but what the bill really does is pander to the noxious notion that immigrants are criminals and should be dealt with harshly," said immigration subcommittee ranking member Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat. "This bill gives Trump and (adviser Steve) Bannon the legislation to establish their mass deportation force. ... This bill should really be called the 'Mass Deportation Act,' because that's what it is."

Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte said the bill was not intended to target immigrants, but to "respect the rule of law."

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