Immigration News Today USA 2015: Republicans Gird For Congress-White House Clash Over Immigration

Republican leaders said they are planning how to handle the looming Congress clash with the White House over immigration policy as Speaker John Boehner remained firm in using the budget of the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) as leverage against the President.

"I said we would fight it tooth and nail when we had the majority and I meant it," Boehner was quoted by MSNBC as telling reporters in a weekly press briefing.

Congressmen plan to halt President Obama's immigration initiatives next week by denying them funding in a security bill, Reuters reported. Last December, a measure was passed funding government operations except for the D.H.S., which is in charge of immigration.

The White House already stated last month that it would reject measures stopping the President's executive action that would protect undocumented immigrants from being deported.

This can likely lead to a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security amid recent attacks by Islamic militants, including the massacre at Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday that killed 12 people. Funding for the agency -- which is tasked with protecting the country from attacks by securing borders, airports, and coastal waters -- ends on Feb. 27.

Boehner told fellow lawmakers that his plan to go against the President's executive move by using the D.H.S. budget as a bargaining chip has been undeterred by the deadly attack by Islamic militants in Paris.

"I don't believe that the funding of the department is, in fact, at risk," Boehner said on Thursday, reported MSNBC. "What is at risk is the rule of law and the sanctity of America's Constitution."

"The issue isn't about funding the Department of Homeland security," said the Republican stalwart. "Members of Congress support funding the department, but we cannot continue to allow the President to go around the Congress, to go around the law and take unilateral action."

Republican leaders are still planning how to sustain D.H..S operations while fighting against the President's executive action.

"We want to stop this executive action, but I think the responsible individuals like myself have no desire to shut down this department," McCaul was reported by MCNBC as saying. "It's too important to the national security interest of the United States."

"It's an important piece of legislation and we'll decide in February how to handle it, but at the end of the day we're going to fund the department, obviously," McConnell told reporters on Wednesday.