A major piece of immigration legislation was advanced by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee last Wednesday night. The Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023 (H.R. 2640) was passed by a near-party line vote of 23-15. The only dissenting Republican was Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who expressed opposition to the E-Verify provisions.
The legislation contained language from several individual bills that were combined into a single package.
H.R. 2640 would among other provisions:
One of the main objections of Democratic committee members was that the bill would endanger children trying to enter the United States to gain asylum. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) pushed back.
The current system [under Pres. Biden] has 85,000 kids they can’t find!…And we’re sitting here talking about a fiction, a fiction of saying there’s an infant rolling through somewhere outside of Eagle Pass right now begging to claim asylum. The infant is not doing that. This is absurd! You know it’s absurd!
The Border Security and Enforcement Act is a serious approach to ending the border crisis created by Pres. Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised to fast track the bill for a floor vote. There are still some Republican holdouts who have indicated they will not vote to pass the bill, most vocally Tony Gonzales (R-Tex.), who has said anyone who wants to come to the U.S. to work should be allowed in.
Getting the bill through the House would be a major milestone, but the obstacle of a Democratic-controlled Senate and Pres. Biden’s certain opposition would remain. Still, it would put considerable political pressure on the Senate and the President to finally take action to address the ongoing border crisis, or to continue current policies that face major public opposition going into the 2024 election season.
Further, Title 42, the measure put in place by the Trump Administration during the COVID pandemic that allows Customs and Border Protection to quickly expel illegal border crossers, is set to expire on Pres. Biden’s order on May 11. CBP expects the surge to get even worse.
And House Republicans are increasingly calling for DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment for his role in facilitating a historic wave of illegal immigration.
Republican Congressional candidates promised to secure the border in their Commitment to America. H.R. 2640 is the first step toward fulfilling that promise.
ERIC RUARK is the Director of Research for NumbersUSA
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