Nevadans defy party in vote to deport Dreamers
By Amber Phillips, Las Vegas Sun
Facing a contested re-election bid that is increasingly being framed around immigration, Rep. Joe Heck voted against a Republican bid to require the president to deport immigrants brought into the country illegally.
Heck was one of 11 House Republicans, including Rep. Mark Amodei of Northern Nevada, to defy their party in a much-politicized 216-192 vote to end President Obama’s program that defers deportations of some of those immigrants, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
There was confusion among House Republicans and Democrats about whether the law would allow immigrants whose deportations were waived to stay in the program.
The vote won’t see the light of the day in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Instead, it allowed Republican leaders to garner enough support from their ultra-conservative members to pass emergency funds aimed at stemming the crisis of migrants on the border.
But while the vote helped conservative Republicans, it put moderates like Heck, a two-term incumbent representing Henderson and Boulder City, in an interesting spot.