However, the details of the House bill aren’t as important as Boehner’s apparent willingness to support the bill.

That’s because any bill — even one that curbs immigration — which is passed by the House can be completely changed during a later House and Senate conference, if Boehner agrees.

“The fear is that the House Republican leadership would use the passage of any immigration bill, even a small one, as an excuse to negotiate an broad amnesty deal with the Senate,” said a statement from Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which wants to halve the current inflow of 1 million people per year.

The Senate bill, which sketched out in January, would grant work permits and a path to citizenship and the ballot box for 11 million illegal immigrants. It would also allow them to eventually bring in some of their relatives.