Which is exactly what has happened every time, over the last 20 years, the issue has come up.
Exactly. Anyone who was thoroughly ticked today hasn't been paying attention to how Congress has dealt with the issue of immigration for the last 20 years.
The laws have been on the books, but so far, no one in power seems to want to enforce them, except a bunch in Congress out to confuse the whole issue with a broad range of silly mid-term election year face-saving half-hearted measures.
The House version was not at all just "face-saving half-hearted measures".