Chris Lange, FISM News
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House Republicans on Thursday formally introduced their sweeping immigration package due to reach the floor next month.
The package, aimed at ending the worst border crisis in U.S. history, combines 20 bills passed by three Republican-led committees into what House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) called the “strongest border security package that Congress has ever taken up.”
“We’re going to bring a border security package and pass it through this House of Representatives. And we challenge President [Joe] Biden to work with us to solve this problem,” Scalise said.
The package of bills underwent respective marathon markup sessions both last week and Thursday. Democrats on the Homeland Committee pushed Republicans to scale back a provision to block federal funding for any nongovernmental agency that facilitates the resettlement of migrants in the U.S., regardless of whether they crossed the border illegally, according to Border Report.
The proposal will be presented for a vote on the House floor on May 11, coinciding with the repeal of Title 42. The pandemic-era restriction had been used by both the current and prior administrations to turn away millions of migrants at the border to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Department of Homeland Security previously estimated a surge of between 13,000 and 18,000 per day when the pandemic-era restriction ends, on top of the current daily apprehensions of 5,000 to 7,000 unauthorized migrants.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said that the Biden administration’s repeal of 89 immigration policies from prior administrations triggered the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis.
“This was intentional,” he said at a press conference Thursday announcing the package.
So glad to see the Republican conference coming together to tackle this border crisis head on. Our border security legislation will fix the problems the Biden admin created. We didn’t start this crisis, but we are committed to ending it. pic.twitter.com/quqDIvoKFX
— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) April 27, 2023
“Day one, he halted construction of the wall. He terminated the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, ended agreements with Northern Triangle countries,” Scalise said. “[A]nd Joe Biden sent a message that America’s border’s open, and millions of people answered that call and started coming across our border illegally.”
BUILD THE WALL
The Homeland Security Committee portion of the bill would require the completion of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, increase Border Protection staff, and modernize and enhance border security technology. It also includes provisions to allow local law enforcement to assist with border enforcement and restricts the use of the Biden administration’s CBP One app to commercial transportation purposes only.
The House Judiciary Committee’s contribution to the package includes an expansion of migrant detention requirements and a provision to strip federal funding to any group that provides “transportation, lodging, or immigration legal services to inadmissible aliens.”
Democrats took exception to the package, particularly with regard to defunding NGOs, and said they would not support it in the House vote.
“The overall bill is really cruel and terrible. It doesn’t really do anything to actually help people at the border,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) told reporters. “Democrats aren’t going to vote for a border bill that doesn’t include any kind of immigration reform and particularly one that is stripping away support for organizations that are helping migrants,” he added.
Scalise said Thursday that he was confident that the House has the votes to pass the legislation.
“Our members have been very interested in having us bring a border security package to the floor, since we ran on this last year,” he said.
“So now that we have all the bills out, we’re going to get that information to our members. I’m very confident we’re going to pass it when we return in May.”
Republicans acknowledged that the proposal is unlikely to gain traction in the Democrat-controlled Senate, not to mention the fact that President Biden vowed to veto it if it passes, but said it was being presented as a practical solution to the border crisis and a contrast to the administration’s current approach.
“Why can’t this be bipartisan? We used to do that. We used to do that. But this is going to be the Republican solution to the problem,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said.