On Friday he dashed off a tweet, saying Republicans should "stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November".

"Hiring many thousands of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go - will always be dysfunctional". But he said the decision "makes it even more imperative that Congress finally act to give federal law enforcement the ability to simultaneously enforce the law and keep families together".

The House plans its showdown roll call on the Republican immigration bill for Wednesday.

Conservatives have opposed the bill's provision offering a chance at citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the USA illegally as children, and have said it doesn't do enough to limit the relatives who immigrants here legally can sponsor for residence.

But the House of Representatives, in a 121-301 vote, solidly showed the lack of consensus among lawmakers, even in the majority-Republican House: 112 Republicans voted against the bill and 121 Republicans voted in favor of it.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that most of the 2,000-plus children who had been separated from their parents could not be reunited with them until Congress passes new legislation.

After Wednesday's failure in the House, it is unlikely that the House will now move to take up a narrow bill dealing with family separation before they leave tomorrow afternoon for a weeklong recess, according to multiple congressional aides.

But that seemed unlikely.

"You've got to be unified on this and I get the feeling we're not unified", said Rep. Paul Cook, R-Calif., who said he was still deciding how to vote.

The bill evolved to address two urgent crises triggered by Trump's hardline immigration agenda: his cancellation of a program that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants brought to the USA as children, known as Dreamers, and the "zero-tolerance" policy which led to the family separations.

In a startling turnabout earlier Wednesday, Trump made an all-caps pitch for the bill.

Trump's support for the failed bill had wavered dramatically over the past several weeks - from the President appearing to criticize it on Fox News to personally pitching the legislation during an in-person meeting on Capitol Hill to his announcement just days later that Republicans should wait until after the midterms to address immigration.

The tweet - which referenced Rep. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said he did not share the president's dismissive attitude towards immigration judges.

"That's what we need to do today, we need to win by defeating this motion to recommit and passing this important legislation that brings America forward in addressing our immigration issues", Goodlatte said, referring to the procedural measure the House struck down that sought to send the bill back to committee. But conservatives relish such tough stances.

"Securing our Southern border has been one of my highest priorities since I arrived in Congress three and a half years ago", McSally said in a statement.

Another factor that would have poured cold water on support for both bills was signals from the U.S. Senate that either of the bills would likely have been dead on arrival in that chamber.

Democrats never were included in the negotiations that led to the legislation and none of them voted for it.

The House members said that "multiple reports" indicate the administration "failed to put in place adequate protocols to reunite children with their parents".

The more conservative bill the House rejected last week clamped down on legal immigration and provided no way for the young immigrants to become citizens.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week that prohibits family separation but the order does not address the estimated 2,300 children who are now being held at DHS facilities.