House advances Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act; Senate next

Republican efforts to move Pres. Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) faced an uphill climb after it failed to pass out of the House Budget Committee last Friday. But what a difference a week makes. 

After successful negotiations with blue state Republicans and members of the House Freedom Caucus – who fought to strengthen provisions to block illegal aliens from accessing welfare benefits, among other things – House GOP Leadership and Pres. Trump got a huge win when the legislation passed by the narrowest of margins, 215 to 214, on Thursday morning.

The bill still needs to get through the Senate, where it will most definitely be altered by Senate Republicans. Whatever the Senate passes would then have to be approved by the House before it can reach Pres. Trump's desk for his signature.

Still, the House-passed bill sets the bar on immigration enforcement by providing billions of dollars to the administration for interior enforcement, mass deportations, border wall construction, and border security operations. This funding will allow Pres. Trump to fulfill one of his key campaign promises. The One Big Beautiful Bill:

• Provides more than $80 billion for interior enforcement, including—

• 10,000 additional ICE officers,

• 100,000 additional beds,

• Additional prosecutors and immigration judges, and

• Funds to apply expedited removal to any alien inadmissible on criminal or security grounds, regardless of how long they have been in the United States;

• Expands immigration fees to shift more of the cost of the immigration system to aliens;

• Provides nearly $70 billion for border security, including $46.5 billion for the border wall system;

• Reimburses States for actions taken to enforce immigration law after January 21, 2021;

• Establishes a 3.5% tax on remittances;

• Requires a social security number for the sponsor, child, and spouse to access a number of taxpayer benefits, including child tax credits;

• Blocks illegal alien access to SNAP benefits, Federal financial aid, and Obamacare by limiting access to citizens, lawful permanent residents, Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program parolees, and lawful residents of freely associated states; and

• Reduces the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) under Medicaid for states that provide financial assistance to illegal aliens and parolees (the inadmissible aliens the Biden Administration imported by the millions).

Late Wednesday evening, after the House Rules Committee adopted a Manager’s Amendment that incorporated changes to restrict illegal aliens’ eligibility for welfare, the Immigration Accountability Project issued the following statement in support of the legislation.

H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the House is about to vote on, will provide a critical investment in interior immigration enforcement and border security. The bill funds 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, 100,000 additional detention beds, and more prosecutors and immigration judges. It also provides sufficient resources to Customs and Border Protection to build the wall and keep our borders secure.

The One Big Beautiful Bill will be a game changer for the men and women of ICE and CBP who work every day to keep our nation safe. By providing $150 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, Congress is acknowledging the vital importance of protecting our nation’s sovereignty and restoring the rule of law.

IAP is especially grateful to House Republican Leadership and the House Freedom Caucus for amending the bill over the past few days to limit illegal aliens’ access to certain welfare benefits, including SNAP, Obamacare, and Medicaid. This process has resulted in clear and enforceable prohibitions on illegal aliens abusing programs meant for—and paid for by—Americans.

Both the House and Senate are out until June 2 for the Memorial Day recess, but Republicans are hoping to deliver the final legislation to Pres. Trump by the Fourth of July.

Immigration News

Supreme Court Issues Two Rulings on Venezuelan Removals

• Supreme Court deals blow to Trump, says in emergency order he can't deport Venezuelan migrants On May 16th, the Supreme Court kept an injunction in place that blocks the Trump Administration from deporting Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), functionally freezing the use of the Act until the Supreme Court rules on whether or not it agrees with its use by the Trump Administration.

• Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke protected status for thousands of Venezuelans Just a few days after the AEA ruling, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump Administration to end the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. The Biden Administration had taken unprecedented actions to expand TPS, in order to keep as many illegal aliens in the country as possible. As a result, 350,000 temporarily amnestied aliens will lose their status later this year. If you’d like to learn more about how the previous administration abused TPS, check out this March report from the House Judiciary Committee.

Harvard University Loses Student and Exchange Visitor Program Certification for Pro-Terrorist Conduct
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took a massive step in the DHS crackdown on foreign students abusing the conditions of their visas by revoking Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. Roughly 6,800 foreign students at Harvard must transfer to a compliant school or lose their status, and no new foreign student visas will be approved for the university. Secretary Noem said: 

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus… It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Rolls Out New Tool To Stop Noncitizens From ‘Hijacking’ US Elections
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has moved at an incredible pace to optimize the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. The SAVE system, which incorporates all DHS records on aliens in the United States, was designed to provide State and local government agencies with a tool to determine aliens’ eligibility for welfare benefits. Limitations in the system, including a requirement for the individual alien identity number used by DHS and a prohibitive fee, made it unsuitable for checking voter eligibility. Only four months into the Trump Administration, USCIS has made the SAVE system free to use, partnered with the Social Security Administration to include social security numbers, and allowed for bulk file uploads, optimizing it for use by states to prevent noncitizen voting. This announcement came on the same day that news broke about a Colombian woman who is charged with voting illegally in 2024 and stealing over $400,000 in benefits.

How Trump’s DOJ is forcing sanctuary city authorities to help with immigration crackdown
To cap off the good news this week, ICE has found a way to counter sanctuary policies and improve detainer compliance. While many sanctuary jurisdictions refuse to honor detainers because they are “administrative warrants,” those same jurisdictions are highly unlikely to ignore Federal criminal warrants. Jennie Taer at the New York Post writes that, since entry without inspection is a crime (and doing it more than once is a felony), ICE is working “around the clock” to issue federal criminal warrants and get access to New York’s criminal alien population. Similar efforts are underway in California, with “Operation Guardian Angel.” 

Next Week

The House and Senate are on recess until June 2. 

As we approach Memorial Day, we pause to honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Their courage and dedication have secured the freedoms we cherish. May we never forget their profound contributions.

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed and reflective Memorial Day.