The House is going to take another stab at passing a border security and immigration bill Thursday to coincide with the expiration of Title 42, the pandemic border policy that allowed the U.S. government to expel migrants.
Just before the new Congress was sworn in, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said a border bill would be one of those “first week” accomplishments. That goal was shot after it took an entire week and 15 votes for Kevin McCarthy to get the speaker’s gavel. It was also before a handful of extremist Freedom Caucus members discovered just how powerful they could be in the Republicans’ tiny majority.
The Republicans fractured on immigration right out of the gate, and they’ve been fighting about it ever since. Battle lines have been drawn between two Texans, Reps. Chip Roy and Tony Gonzales, over just how racist, “un-American,” and “un-Christian” they were willing to be in blocking asylum for people fleeing criminal and political violence in their home countries. That dispute has been tentatively resolved with some asylum limits in bills that advanced out of both the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees. In the early morning hours Wednesday, the Rules Committee acted on some last-minute compromises to ready the bill.
A group of more than 130 national and local labor, immigration, civil rights, and religious groups declared in a letter to House Democrats that the Republican bill is “racist” and “xenophobic.” They urged unanimous opposition to the bill, arguing it “would dismantle the asylum system and cause immeasurable harm to immigrant communities.”
The agreement struck in the Rules Committee doesn’t mean that the Republican infighting is over. A few other Republicans have stepped up to contest parts of the bill. One is Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who said Monday that “Americans who care about border security should be deeply disappointed in House Republican leaders” because the bill doesn’t do anything to fight drug cartels. He said he’ll vote against the bill as it is now.
Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Massie also said he’s a “no” on the bill Monday because it includes electronic verification (E-Verify) of work authorization. “Republicans are about to make a huge mistake,” Massie tweeted. “Biden forced millions of Americans to take VACCINES by threatening their JOBS, and turning EMPLOYERS into enforcers. Imagine giving Biden the ultimate on/off switch for EMPLOYMENT called E-verify. Might as well call it V-verify.”
Agricultural advocacy groups have opposed the E-Verify requirements in the bill, fearful that farmers would be put in the position of having to verify every farmworker’s immigration status and be on the hook for undocumented workers. A number of farm-state Republicans also raised concerns about that provision, and late Tuesday got concessions with additional language requiring the Department of Homeland Security to consider E-Verify’s impact on agricultural labor. That might not be enough to bring Massie over.
The numbers are so tight for McCarthy with his very small majority that he can’t afford to lose more than Massie and Crenshaw, particularly since Republican Rep. George Santos might be busy in court in New York, where he’s set to be indicted on criminal charges related to his campaign.
The White House issued a veto threat Monday, saying the border bill “would cut off nearly all access to humanitarian protections in ways that are inconsistent with our Nation’s values and international obligations.” That will only happen if the bill actually passes in the House and then makes it through the Senate, which isn’t looking likely right now since Senate Republicans aren’t on board and have their own plans for a border bill.
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