House Republicans voted to prohibit President Barack Obama from granting what they consider to be an unconstitutional amnesty to illegal immigrants Friday by effectively ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

The measure sparked one of the most vitriolic debates in recent memory. Democrats hurled accusations of xenophobia, cowardice and racism against Republicans.

Republicans shot back, saying they were not acting out of insensitivity, but out of concern for the separation of powers that Obama, in executing DACA, has allegedly disregarded.