Activists rally to support immigrants and to mark World Refugee Day, June 20, near Trump World Tower in New York City. Bowing to political pressure from both parties, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, June 27, that will end his policy of separating families along the southern border. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents at the border as a result of the Trump administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ illegal immigration policy. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)


The U.S. House of Representatives defeated an immigration bill supported by President Donald Trump, June 27, which had proposed a merit-based immigration system and elimination of country quotas in green card allotment, dealing a setback to the president.


The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act, also known as the Goodlatte Bill because of it being introduced by Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte from Virginia, was defeated by 121 to 300 votes in the Republican-majority House of Representatives.

Trump had made a last-minute push for the legislation. But he failed to convince his own lawmakers.

Once again, Republican leaders put a partisan immigration bill on the floor, and it failed overwhelmingly, House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer said.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks with reporters during a news conference following a House Republican conference meeting June 26, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

The vote makes it absolutely clear – once again – that the only path forward to protecting ‘Dreamers’ is a bipartisan process that leads to votes on bipartisan legislation, said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us which is backed by top IT companies.

We opposed this bill today. While it contained some good elements, it came with harmful cuts to legal immigration levels and allowed the indefinite detention of children and families – and we opposed it because it abandoned a bipartisan process that is absolutely required to get legislation signed into law, Schultz said.