How Congress can take the pressure off ICE

The men and women who work in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) don’t make immigration laws. They don’t set immigration limits. They enforce the laws Congress passes. Without enforcement, laws are just suggestions. Without ICE, Congress might as well stop legislating on immigration and write opeds instead.

Support ICE. Pass H.R. 2

Congress should reintroduce and pass H.R. 2 from the previous Congress to secure the border – and the workplace – forever. Without E-Verify, the crushing burden of reversing the worst border crisis in history falls on ICE alone. With E-Verify, the jobs magnet disappears, and people who came illegally lose their biggest reason to remain here.

If Congress wants its immigration laws to mean anything, people who are not authorized to be here must be required to leave. ICE has a difficult job. Congress–and E-Verify–can help

Restore Respect for the Law

In a functioning system, you need enough enforcement to convince most people to follow the law in the first place. When immigration enforcement fades, the border surges. When enforcement is visible and credible, violations become the exception.

Consider this: during the Trump Administration, ICE deported about 200,000 people in the first seven months of 2025*. In that same period, 1.6 million others chose to leave on their own–no arrests, detention, or removals required. Compliance is better for the migrant, better for ICE, and better for America. But compliance only happens when people see that breaking the law is not worth the risk.

ICE makes that case daily through arrests. Congress can reinforce it — and reduce the burden on ICE – by cutting off the jobs reward. The logic is simple: the best way to encourage more self-deportations is to stop paying people to stay.

*Another 200,000 have been deported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Don’t Get Fooled Again

The Biden Administration saddled ICE with an impossible challenge after opening the borders for four years. The previous Congress didn’t help by failing to stop the border crisis as it spiraled out of control. The House-passed H.R. 2 was never taken up by the Senate. As a result, millions entered and remain unlawfully, overwhelming communities across America.

The failures of the Biden Administration in creating the crisis, and the failures of the previous Congress to stop it, have left ICE with the unimaginable responsibility of restoring meaning and credibility to Congress’ laws while millions of people are flouting them every day.

The least THIS CONGRESS can do is to make ICE’s job easier. THIS CONGRESS must not fail in its opportunity to:

• Secure the border forever; and
• Increase self-deportations

H.R. 2 would accomplish that by 1) closing border loopholes, and 2) making illegal employment hard again.

Too much is at stake for Congress to sit this one out. The shooting at a Dallas ICE facility last week is a sobering reminder: enforcement is necessary, and compliance is the ultimate goal. The safety of law enforcement and migrants, and American communities depends on it.

Reintroduce and pass H.R. 2.