House Democrats will vote on a resolution to block Pres. Trump’s national emergency declaration as early as next week. The President signed the declaration last week, declaring a national emergency after month’s of record-level border apprehensions of family units and unaccompanied minors. Pres. Trump is looking to shift funds from other agencies to help fund additional barriers along the U.S.- Mexico border.
White House officials are building on Pres. Trump’s call to increase legal immigration, according to a new report from McClatchy. According to the report, Pres. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been meeting with a number of business groups and other government officials to devise an immigration plan that would increase the number of employment based visas for foreign workers.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has introduced legislation that would block states from giving in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens. Under federal law, it’s illegal for states to grant a benefit to illegal aliens that can’t be accessed by all U.S. citizens, but still, a number of states have passed laws that allow illegal aliens to receive the in-state tuition benefit.
A true champion for reducing legal immigration and stopping most illegal immigration passed away on Sunday. Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina died at the age of 76 after serving more than two decades in the House of Representatives.
The House and Senate passed H.J.Res. 31 on Thursday to fund roughly 25% of the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security, through Sept. 30. In addition to allowing DHS to increase the number of low-skilled guest workers through the H-2B visa program, the bill also reduces the number of detention beds used by ICE to detail criminal aliens and recent illegal border crossers and protects sponsors of child smuggling from deportation.
Pres. Trump called for increasing legal immigration during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. It's at least the second time since his State of the Union speech to Congress last week that the President has called for more immigration.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee has delayed a vote for the second time on Pres. Trump's nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The President had nominated Ron Vitiello to the post last year, but the Senate Committee delayed the vote because of concerns brought to the Committee by the ICE officers union. Pres. Trump had to nominate Vitiello for a second time because of the new Congress starting last month.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) unveiled an immigration proposal today that would grant amnesty to illegal aliens and increase the number of foreign workers imported each year. The proposal also attempts to appeal to Pres. Trump's desire to build a border wall by including a boost for border security funding.
As House and Senate negotiators continue to work out a compromise over funding the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year, ICE officers say they're being left out of the discussions and warn of the Democrats proposal that would reduce the amount of detention space.
After calling for the "the largest numbers ever" of immigration during his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, Pres. Trump doubled down on that call on Wednesday. In a gathering with regional reporters, the President said "we need people."