Two more Republicans have dropped out of a bipartisan working group that had been trying to draft compromise immigration reform legislation they had hoped to advance in the House.
Texas Republican Reps. Sam Johnson and John Carter said in a joint statement that "the problem is politics" and that they believe "any measure depending on the president's enforcement will not be faithfully executed." They accused President Barack Obama of "bypassing the Congress" to "advance his political agenda."
Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, another Republican, left the group in June over a dispute related to health care.
The original eight members of the bipartisan group had been working for months with hopes of reaching a breakthrough, with little success. A bipartisan "Gang of Eight" in the Senate had managed to win passage of their own measure.
The House Judiciary Committee is working on several separate bills on immigration reform, but it's unclear how that legislation will address undocumented immigrants, or how or whether those bills will proceed through the lower chamber.