Immigration activists who crowded into the Senate committee room to hear the proceedings shouted, “Yes, we can! Si se puede!” after the 13-5 bipartisan vote.

The legislation would grant a change in citizenship to the nation’s approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants, create a new program for low-skilled foreign labor and increase the number of visas given to foreign workers to come work in this country.

“Of particular importance is the fact all of the Senate Democrats on the committee as well as Gang of Eight Republicans Jeff Flakes (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) helped to ensure the path to citizenship remains achievable,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration reform organization America’s Voice.

Three Republicans — Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah — voted in favor while five Republicans — Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama — voted against the legislation. Ten Democrats, including those who are part of the Gang of Eight, who drafted the 844-page legislation voted to take the legislation to the full Senate floor.

The 13-5 vote came with compromise from gay rights supporters who decided to sidestep the same-sex spouses provision in favor of reaching a solid bipartisan agreement.

In a statement, Obama said the measure is “largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system.”

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who staked his conservative Republican credentials on the need to reform immigration as part of the Gang of Eight, released a statement saying, “The amended bill that heads to the Senate floor would make significant progress to secure our borders, make E-Verify mandatory for the first time in American history, effectively crack down on immigrants who overstay visas, and modernize the legal immigration system to meet America’s 21st century economic needs for both highly skilled talent and guest workers to fill labor shortages.”

New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Gang of Eight member also  praised the vote and said he was pleased that the original foundation of the legislation was not weakened.

Before the vote today there was some final tense moments as Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who serves as chairman, proposed to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under immigration law, which Republicans like Senator Rubio had said would be a deal breaker.

“I don’t want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country,” said Leahy.

But Senators like Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin said that while “I believe in my heart of hearts that what you’re doing is the right and just thing — this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill.”

The panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers from 65,000 to 100,000, a deal that brought Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah over to the “yes” ranks on the vote.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will bring the legislation to the Senate floor early next month for a debate that may last the month of June.

In the Republican-led House the immigration bill is more uncertain, though there will be a hearing in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

“It’s a long road ahead — but the diverse coalition that has formed in support of comprehensive immigration reform continues to grow,” said Senator Menendez.

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

“At this point, information is relatively low but the desire to be engaged in the process is very high,” said Dr. Gabriel Sanchez, Director of Research for Latino Decisions, who conducted the survey for Adelante con la Salud: Latino Health Care Engagement Project, which seeks to inform the state’s Hispanics on the new law.

A key finding was that only a mere 6 percent of Colorado Latinos knew about the health care exchanges — the main mechanism created by the law so families can purchase affordable insurance.  This is significant, because the law was set up so that health care costs would gradually go down as millions of  Americans sign up for health insurance through the exchanges.

Currently, the high cost of health care has taken its toll among Latino families, according to the poll. Forty-three percent of Hispanics in Colorado say they have used up savings to pay medical bills, and almost one in three say they can’t cover their basic needs due to medical costs.  Forty-five percent of Latinos surveyed say they rely on home remedies to defray medical costs, almost three in ten skip treatments and more than a quarter of Latinos did not get their prescriptions filled due to costs.

When asked how they would prefer to obtain information on the ACA, Latinos surveyed said hospitals  (27 percent) followed by doctors (21 percent).  ”We cannot assume doctors are informed about the Affordable Care Act,” said Sanchez, who is also the Assistant Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico.  Giving the medical community key talking points, said Sanchez, is necessary to avoid medical doctors giving “misinformation” about the new health care law.

Melanie Herrera Botz, co-Project director from Adelante con la Salud, said Colorado is already ahead of some states, especially on the rollout of the health care exchanges, which are supposed to be in place in October. “We changed the name to Connect for Health Colorado, we’re running TV commercials, and bus ads will be rolled — let’s hope our work pays off in October,” she said.

“One of our jobs is educating on how to navigate the health care system,” said Herrera Botz, explaining many families need to understand the basics, like what a premium or a deductible is.  ”If we don’t educate them on how to use it, it won’t work,” she said.

An interesting finding of the survey was that only 25 percent of Latinos knew that undocumented immigrants cannot participate in the health insurance program. Half of Latinos thought they could — and 62 percent think they should be eligible.

“Do you know how hard it is to say a 28-year story in a few minutes?” said McGuire-Maniau, describing how everyone went around the room telling the President their story. “But I told him my husband applied and tried to do it the right way, but regardless, the system is broken and it doesn’t work,” she said.

McGuire-Maniau’s husband, Hector, arrived from Mexico when he was 17 on a B2 visa.  His mother became a naturalized citizen and petitioned him, and he was approved in 1998.  He was told to wait and then apply for adjustment of status.  But according to Melissa, an attorney told Hector’s family he could legally expedite his case, which was not true. “Then immigration took the application and money, but placed him in removal proceedings, which happens all the time – so many people are in deportation proceedings because of someone else, meddling in their case,” says McGuire-Maniau.  She describes ICE coming to her house three times until they finally found her husband home and put him at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Melissa McGuire-Maniau, a U.S. citizen by birth, told President Obama why her husband almost got deported.

The couple fought his situation successfully with help from the community, and Hector now has a green card. But Melissa’s sister was deported, and is still in Mexico, with her children in the U.S.  ”It  makes me sad; we fought back, but others are so paralyzed with fear and they don’t fight back.”

The President listened to Melissa’s story, as well as to Miguel Leal, a U.S. citizen originally from Cuba. Leal told Telemundo’s Lori Montenegro that he was there for his Uruguayan wife, who is undocumented, and who has several family members in detention.  Other immigrants from South Korea and Morocco shared their stories with Obama, and DREAMers shared how their lives had changed with deferred action, while emphasizing many of their family members were still facing uncertain futures under current laws.

“He was very moved,” says McGuire-Maniau. “He says his commitment is unwavering and he wants to get immigration reform done.”  Others said the President said it would be hard work, but that he was committed.

The White House sent out a statement after the meeting.  ”At the meeting, the President reiterated his commitment to passing a bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform bill this year.  He made clear that while the current bill is not perfect, it does represent an important step towards the broad principles that need to be part of any immigration reform package,” according to the White House.

For her part, McGuire-Maniu says there was another reason why she wanted to talk to Obama.

“He was a community organizer, like me,” she says. “There are so many issues he has to manage – sometimes you get worn down, but hearing people’s stories grounds you,” the Florida resident states.

Republican Carlos Gutierrez, former Commerce Secretary under George W. Bush and co-chair of the center-right Hispanic Leadership Network,  says, “Republicans are right in pursuing the IRS scandal, which sends shivers down the spine of the average American, because these are tactics that are used in authoritarian governments,” says Gutierrez.  ”If an authoritarian leader wants to go after an enemy, they send the IRS-type government arm,” he adds.

Today Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he was “concerned” about a report that the Obama administration had investigated a Fox News reporter regarding a possible national security leak, and said “we must insist” it was not done for partisan reasons, saying the IRS scandal shows “this White House has created a culture where we do have to explicitly make these kinds of requests.”

Cid Wilson, a New Jersey-based Democratic activist and national Dominican-American leader, says the IRS scandal needs to be dealt with to ensure this does not happen again, but says this has also been an issue for Republican administrations as well, saying the NAACP was targeted during the Bush administration.  Wilson lashed out at Congressional Republicans.

“Americans should start calling out the Republicans for what they are; they haven’t gotten any legislation passed, and all they’re doing is obstructing,” said Wilson.  ”They’re getting paid very nice salaries, they’re getting the best health care, but want to defund health care for the rest of Americans,” adds Wilson. “I think the Republicans, especially in the House, need to stop pleasing their extreme right-wing and do what’s right and put country first.”

RELATED: White House defends IRS scandal, McConnell asserts ‘culture of intimidation’

Gutierrez, who started a political action committee to fund and to back Republicans who favor immigration reform, concedes there is a danger of Republicans “overplaying their hand.”

“I am worried about the IRS scandal potentially slowing down or in the worst case derailing immigration reform,” says Gutierrez, who says he would advise Republican legislators to continue pushing for immigration reform while not belittling the IRS issue.

Maribel Hastings, senior adviser of the pro-immigration group America’s Voice, issued a warning to Republican legislators.

“It would be imprudent to allow the desire to deny Obama a legislative victory to supersede the Republicans’ need to recover their electoral viability at the national level by appealing to the Latino vote—and to waste the opportunity that immigration reform presents them to do so,” Hastings said. “It would be imprudent—scandalous, even, in its own way. And it would surely demonstrate a low IQ,” she added, in a not-so-veiled reference to the Jason Richwine/Heritage scandal.

Democrat Cid Wilson says, “Republicans are making a huge strategic mistake if they think the only thing Latinos are concerned with is immigration.

“If they try to block the highly qualified Thomas Perez for Labor Secretary, you will see major reaction next November for Republicans who blocked the first Latino appointment of Obama’s second term,” Wilson adds.

University of Maryland political scientist Stella Rouse says Republicans could use the IRS and other issues to put aside voting for immigration reform if it gets too tricky in the House. “It will be interesting to see if Republicans come back and say ‘we were working on immigration reform but then we had to deal with the IRS scandal, and this took priority,’” she says.

Democrats, Rouse states, should focus on the fact that the economic indicators are better, and tie comprehensive immigration reform to improving the economy. “Democrats don’t always use the momentum to help themselves out,” says Rouse.  ”On immigration, it’s now or never.  You can’t let that die again.”

“We’re having people from all political beliefs coming over, saying how excited they are about my candidacy and how they can’t wait to send someone who is not a career politician to Washington,” he says.

In liberal-leaning Massachusetts, Gabriel Gomez touts himself as politician who promises to work across the aisle. “I am not going to tow the ideological hard-line,” says Gomez in an interview with NBC Latino.  ”In DC you have not only career politicians but hyper-partisan politicians who refuse to work across the aisle, and we can’t do that,” Gomez says.

In Massachusetts, this is a wise strategy, says Arizona State University political scientist Rodolfo Espino. ”If he wants to win, he needs a message appropriate to his state’s base – he just needs to say enough to appeal to more than half of the electorate, and in Massachusetts, you have to be left of center” says Espino.

While Gomez is a Catholic married father of 4, he supports gay marriage. On abortion, while Gomez has been facing many questions on what he does and does not support, Gomez repeatedly says he does not believe in overturning Roe versus Wade, though he is personally opposed to abortion. Gomez supports immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, though he says he agrees with Senators Rubio and McCain on securing the border as a priority.

“Ninety nine-point nine percent of undocumented immigrants are like you and me, good people who are here because it’s better than where they came from, and want to be taxpayers and in many cases start their own business,” he says. “It’s not just a moral issue – it’s a net plus on the economic side.”

To win the Republican primary, Gomez emphasized his background – and this is still his main selling point in the Senate race. Gomez is a former Navy fighter pilot as well as a former Navy Seal.  And being the son of Colombian immigrants, explains Gomez, has given him a unique – and optimistic – perspective.  ”I saw how hard my parents worked, and how my country embraced my parents with open arms – that was one of the reasons I decided to join the military, to give back,” he says.

He also touts his years in the military as a plus if he gets elected. “It gives me real experience with national security issues and threats we’re facing – we were reminded of the dangers we’re living with here in Boston a month ago,” he says. Gomez ran in the Boston marathon that day, but was not injured. Veterans issues, he adds, would be one of his top priorities in Washington.

After the military, Gomez obtained his MBA at Harvard, and then made his wealth in the private equity business. He says he would use his experience in the private sector to clear the “uncertainty” businesses are feeling right now. Gomez is opposed to the Affordable Care Act; he thinks there should be basic access to healthcare only through the state, like in Massachusetts. When asked if he would vote to repeal the ACA, he says he would vote to repeal parts of it, like the medical device tax.

Moderate Republicans in more liberal states like Massachusetts face a double challenge. If they are elected in the first place, their more liberal stance clashes with the conservative base in the Republican party, which was the case with former Republican Senator Scott Brown.  ”Brown had initial Tea Party support, but as he was elected they soured on him for some of the stances he took,” says Espino.

Still, Gomez says he feels “great enthusiasm” about his campaign, which today released his first ad.  ”For a kid who didn’t know English until he came to school, I’ve lived the American Dream,” he says in the ad.

As a Latino politician, Espino says, Gomez’ more affluent and educated immigrant background shows that  ”the life experiences of Latinos are very diverse,  just like that of white politicians.”

On the Senate floor yesterday, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said about Perez, “We have a nominee right now to the Labor Department who has an admirable personal story which I admire and applaud but who has a history of using the government and his position in government to intimidate people to do what he wants them to do,” said Rubio. Other Republicans have said Perez, who is Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, is too ideological.

This is disputed by other Republicans who have come out in support of Perez, who would be the first and as of now only Latino in the president’s second-term Cabinet.  John R. Dunne, who had Perez’ same job at the Justice Department in the first Bush Administration, wrote a letter to Senate leaders saying he hired and worked with Perez, “and as a result of those experiences, I found Tom to be an excellent lawyer, a dedicated public servant with a deep commitment to the common good.”

RELATED: Obama nominates Thomas Perez for Labor Secretary, calling him an “advocate” for working families  

New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez lashed out today at the Republican Senators in the HELP committee who voted against the nomination. “At a time when Republicans should be reaching out to Hispanic Americans rather than reverting back to the same old political strategies that failed them during the last election, it is unfortunate that the president’s first Hispanic choice for his second-term cabinet continues to be under attack,” said Menendez. “I urge my Republican colleagues to stop the obstructionism and do what’s right for the country: vote to confirm Tom Perez as the next Secretary of Labor when his nomination comes before the full Senate for consideration,” added Menendez, who chairs the Senate Democratic Hispanic Task Force.

Today California Democratic Congresswoman Linda Sanchez and 138 House Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging him to ensure Perez gets confirmed by the full Senate.  The legislators touted the fact that Perez has worked for both Democrat and Republican administrations.  They also stated Perez had successfully increased human trafficking prosecutions and ensured enforcement of voting rights laws in his current role, as well as enforced wage protection laws as Maryland’s Labor Secretary.

Many of the nation’s most prominent Latino leaders have been denouncing Republican opposition to Perez.

“We are outraged over the unjustified and unfair delays in his confirmation and in the unjust treatment of his nomination,” said Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza.

Most Republican leaders have expressed the need to reach out to Latino voters after their dismal showing in the 2012 elections.  The question is whether they will keep Latino voters in mind as they vote on whether to confirm a son of Dominican immigrants to the nation’s top Labor post.

“While I am sure Republicans are sensitive to the fact that the Perez nomination definitely matters to many Latinos, I suspect that if it were a major issue to Republicans you wouldn’t see such a clear difference in today’s vote,” says University of New Mexico political scientist Gabriel Sanchez.  ”When it comes to the full Senate, it will probably be an individually-based decision for some Republican Senators, depending on their districts,” Sanchez adds.

If there are not enough votes, the question is whether Senate Majority Leader Reid will consider the “nuclear option” –  where Senate Democrats vote to change Senate rules to prevent Republicans from filibustering the nomination by requiring 60 votes.

In the meantime, for some Latino leaders, a Perez rejection goes beyond the nominee.

“Senators who are threatening to filibuster him and prevent an up-or-down on his confirmation are filibustering the Latino community,” said Hector Sanchez, chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLLA).

“The biggest problem is we are not asking them for their vote,” said Dr. Julie Martinez Ortega, vice president of  policy and advocacy for PowerPac, a progressive political action committee.  Ortega conducted a poll of over 2,600 randomly selected Hispanic registered voters.  According to the poll, 57 percent of Latino registered voters said Democrats best represent their views on social issues like same-sex marriage, religion and abortion, and 57 percent say Democrats best represent their views on jobs, economy and immigration.

And though Texas is considered a “red” state, only 23 percent of Latinos said they generally vote Republican, whereas 52 percent said they generally vote Democrat and 16 percent say they vote Independent.

One of the reasons why Republicans are still winning elections by about a million votes is that there are over 3 million Latinos “sitting on the sidelines,” according to Democratic state representative Trey Martinez Fischer and founder of One Texas PAC.   There are over 2 million Latinos in Texas not registered to vote, he says, and another million mostly Hispanic registered voters who are not voting.

Yet one of the poll’s findings was that only 54 percent of Latinos recall being contacted by a campaign in the last presidential election. “When pretty much half of Latinos didn’t even get a piece of mail, we have a problem,” said Martinez Ortega.  She added that while a third of Texas Latinos who voted for Obama also voted for conservative Republican Senator Ted Cruz, about a third of Latinos who voted for Senator Cruz did not know he was a Republican, according to the poll’s findings.  ”Here in Texas we didn’t make a concerted effort to educate Latinos on who Ted Cruz really is,” said Martinez Ortega.

Texas Republican Joshua Treviño takes issue with the Democrats’ contention that more Latino voters would turn Texas blue. “This is the old trope that gets trotted out, that demographic change in the state will go Democrat, and you hear this a lot these days from them,” says Treviño, who was a speechwriter for George W. Bush and is currently vice president of communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “While there are partisan tendencies among groups, the fact is that as affluence and social integration occurs, political pluralism increases,” he says.

Treviño adds it is not a “safe assumption” that more Latino voters will translate to increased Democratic numbers and Democratic elected officials, though he does say current Hispanic voter participation does not represent the proportion of Latinos in Texas.

But Texas Democrats say a focus on 6 key counties in the state where the majority of Latinos reside can make a big difference in increased voter registration, turnout — and future Democratic victories.

“Some look at my district and think it should be functioning as a Republican district,” says Senator Wendy Davis, who represents an area that is 29 percent Latino, 19 percent African-American and 47.6 percent non-Hispanic white.  ”But we’ve demonstrated that by talking and connecting with these voters — it will happen,” Davis said.  She adds that while many areas have been redistricted as “purely Democrat” or “purely Republican,” the strategy is to take a district approach and apply it statewide — “focus on places where you have the biggest potential gain,” says Davis.

Democrat Martinez Fischer stated he is not concerned whether Texas turns blue in 2016 or 2020 — “the key is not to be fast, but to be right,” he said.

“If they (the Administration) can’t get a hold and change the narrative, it’s going to cause a lot of trouble for the White House,” said Republican strategist Danny Vargas on MSNBC today.

So will the focus on these issues and controversies derail an immigration bill from reaching the President’s desk by the end of the summer?

Immigration supporters in the Senate say this is not the case.

“We are really making a lot of headway through the Senate Judiciary Committee right now; in fact, it’s getting done as we speak,” says José Parra, director of Hispanic media and Deputy Director of Communications for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“Senator Reid has said from the beginning this is one of his top if not the top priority, and he continues to think so,” states Parra. “He intends to have it on the floor in the month of June,” he adds.

Katherine Vargas, White House Director of Hispanic Media, says the President summed it up best in a recent news conference .  ”I feel confident that the bipartisan work that’s been done on immigration reform will result in a bill that passes the Senate, passes the House, and gets on my desk. And that’s going to be a historic achievement,”  said President Obama, when asked about the prospects of immigration legislation this year.

But others, like University of Notre Dame professor Allert Brown-Gort, are not so sure.

“It’s not whether Benghazi or the IRS or AP sucks the oxygen out of the room for immigration reform – it’s whether some Republicans, especially in the House, will use this as an excuse to put off hearings and not move the legislation forward,” says Brown-Gort, a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Brown-Gort says that while the Republican party leadership and the “intelligentsia” are pushing for it, “their base is saying ‘no’ – the Republicans got hoisted on their own petard on the success of the word amnesty,’ he adds.

Immigration reform advocates point to the fact that only a small group of House Republicans joined a press conference yesterday against the current immigration reform bill.  ”The House press conference underscored the fact that these opponents are rapidly losing influence,” said America’s Voice Frank Sharry. Conservative Republican Congressman Steve Stockman said in the press conference they will have a “gang of millions” against the bill.

In the meantime, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets tomorrow again – and at least in the Senate, the bill is on its way.

Placed in its proper historical context, far more egregious government infiltration has been going on in the minority community for years without much concern from the media, much less the GOP.

These folks have rolled over too quickly in seizing this opportunity to appear impartial, but instead are feeding the right wing machine looking for any chance to put on their Benghazi circus act.  I’m not yet clear on why this was somehow a miscarriage of justice beyond some overzealous officials scrutinizing a sudden influx of political action groups seeking tax-exempt status.

It’s ironic that the government has been targeting minority groups for years, yet it’s not until it’s revealed that Tea Party groups were being scrutinized by the IRS that even the outwardly liberal Jon Stewart will all of a sudden feel the need to apologize for it.  What we forget is that those labeled from communist to gay have historically been targeted as security threats. The government has always paid extra attention to groups it felt were likely to be a threat to the country.

And what threat did the Tea Party pose? Well, for starters, a new book about the Tea Party by political scientists Chris Parker and Matt Barreto suggests that reactionary political groups like the Tea Party contained racist strains in their membership, and those strains went beyond racism, extending to xenophobia and homophobia as well.

Does this mean every Tea Party member was racist? No, but given the research, it’s not entirely unjustified to pay closer attention to these types of groups.

And having a tendency to bring guns to your rallies, while legal in many states, isn’t exactly a confidence booster for the government when your group supports Southern-style nullification as a means of redress against federal programs they disapprove of, like Obamacare.

So while the IRS should be advised to apply equal scrutiny across the political spectrum, we shouldn’t acquiesce to the notion that these groups were political assemblages with entirely sterile intentions.

But what does this travesty of justice they are calling “extra scrutiny” look like? Well, for Tea Party groups it means they got phone calls and questionnaires.  Not exactly the kind of FBI infiltration we’ve seen of the Black Panthers, or even the kind of scrutiny imposed on the NAACP just 9 years ago, or the targeting of the progressive All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA by the IRS during the Bush Administration, where there was little interest from the GOP in such activities.

While it’s important that the Obama Administration answer questions about their involvement and knowledge of this targeting, it’s also important for the mainstream media to maintain some historical perspective. Having to put up with some phone calls and questionnaires isn’t exactly J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI or Richard Nixon, and it appears that none of these groups were denied their tax-exempt status.

Sure, the public has a right to know how it emerged within the IRS that these groups rose to a level with greater scrutiny, but it would be nice if folks like Jon Stewart and Chris Matthews didn’t feed the impression that this was an unprecedented instance of government run wild.

Stephen A. Nuño, Ph.D., NBC Latino contributor and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Northern Arizona University. He is currently writing a book on Republican outreach into the Latino Community.

“I would take Obamacare and try to live with that before I would ever accept this amnesty plan – this amnesty plan is far far worse than Obamacare,” said King.  He was referring to the 1o-year pathway to citizenship proposed in the bill, which would allow undocumented immigrants who are willing to pay fines and pay back taxes, as well as learn English and fulfill other requirements, to earn legal permanent residency and then citizenship after approximately a decade.

“People think that they’re trying to somehow shape a way to solve the immigration problem,” said King, who has made headlines by comparing immigrants to dogs.  ”Well, remember how you could simply solve the lawlessness problem if you abolish all the laws and you wouldn’t have the lawlessness problem anymore? That’s essentially what they are doing with this bill,” added King at the press conference.

“They have a Gang of Eight? We’re going to have a Gang of Millions,” added Texas Republican Congressman Steve Stockman, citing strong opposition to the Senate plan. Stockman said the immigration bill “will fail on its own merit — because the people are stronger than the Gang of Eight.”  Others at the press conference included  Pennsylvania Congressman Lou Barletta, Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks, Louisiana Congressman John Fleming, Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, and Texas Congressman Lamar Smith.

A bipartisan group of House members including Florida Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Idaho Republican Raul Labrador, and Illinois Democrat Luis Gutierrez are expected to announce their own bipartisan immigration reform bill in the next few weeks.

UPDATE: In a statement sent to NBC Latino, Congressman King said the following about his previous comments comparing immigrants and bird dogs, which we linked to: “This was a speech given about legal, as opposed to illegal, immigrants who self select and are a source of American vigor, the cream of the crop and, yes, the self selected pick of the litter.”