PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump took executive action on immigration Wednesday while Republican lawmakers met for their retreat 150 miles away in Philadelphia. And they loved it.

Yet many of the same GOP lawmakers condemned President Barack Obama when he exercised his executive power on immigration in 2014. One of their chief complaints about Obama is that he acted on immigration, the environment and other matters without consulting Congress.

The two executive orders that Trump, a Republican, signed Wednesday would begin construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall he promised during his presidential campaign, and strip funding for “sanctuary cities” that do not prosecute immigrants in the country illegally.

“For years, Americans have demanded that Washington do its job and secure our borders,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Today, President Trump took bold action to finally make it happen.”

McCaul had a very different view of Obama's 2014 actions that the White House then characterized as a crackdown on illegal immigration at the border. He also expanded a program that allowed immigrants in the U.S. illegally who'd come as children to stay in the country and work, as well as protecting the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens from deportation.

“The president's decision to bypass Congress and grant amnesty to millions of unlawful immigrants is unconstitutional and a threat to our democracy,” McCaul said at the time. “There is no doubt our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, but this does not mean the president has the authority to act without Congress.

Congressional Republicans are spending three days in Philadelphia this week discussing their 2017 agenda. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are scheduled to meet with the lawmakers Thursday.

Other lawmakers who had protested Obama's methods, insisting he was bypassing Congress, were eager to support Trump's orders on Wednesday.

“I am pleased with President Trump's actions to secure our southern border and improve immigration enforcement,” said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. “I congratulate President Trump for reversing the disastrous policies of the prior administration and making good on his promise to keep America safe.”

In 2015, Labrador said Obama had provoked “a constitutional crisis” by circumventing Congress.

“The House defended its constitutional authority to make the law of the land in today's vote to oppose President Obama's unconstitutional executive actions on immigration,” Labrador said then of a vote to block Department of Homeland Security funding for enforcement of Obama's policy.

Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for McCaul, said Trump's actions were legal, while Obama's were not.

“President Obama's executive orders were designed to either circumvent or break existing laws,” she said. “President Trump's executive orders are designed to enforce existing laws.”

Trump could still face challenges from his own party in trying to go much further. Some Republican lawmakers have pushed the idea of restoring the primacy of Congress in policymaking, no matter who's in the White House.