House committees pass the immigration provisions of the reconciliation bill

The House Judiciary Committee this week released and passed the text of the interior enforcement provisions that will be included in the budget reconciliation bill. The proposal includes approximately $80 billion in funding to strengthen interior immigration enforcement. House GOP Leaders are hoping to pass the legislation and send it to the Senate before the Memorial Day recess at the end of the month.

The Committee’s bill includes provisions that would:

• fund detention space for up to 100,000 illegal aliens;
• fund Pres. Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols, otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico”;
• fund an additional 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and additional immigration judges; and
• provide funding for the 287(g) program and other cooperative efforts between the federal government and state and local governments that assist in immigration enforcement.

The House Homeland Security Committee also released and passed its bill that includes approximately $69 billion for border security, including border wall construction. Before the final reconciliation bill comes to the House floor for a vote, the $80 billion for interior enforcement will be combined with the $69 billion for border security (along with all the tax and other provisions).

Both of these bills are strong steps forward in the process to pass a “Big, Beautiful Bill” that would fulfill many of Pres. Trump’s campaign promises to secure the border and strengthen immigration enforcement. We anticipate that some relatively minor changes to these immigration-related bills will be made in the House Rules Committee before they pass the House, but it is unclear at this point how the Senate will proceed with consideration of the overall reconciliation bill. So, there are still several steps before this bill ultimately reaches Pres. Trump’s desk.

Immigration News

100 Days of Fighting Fake News
This week's buzz on Capitol Hill centered around the first 100 days of the Trump Administration. In addition to several of the immigration components at DHS putting out their own 100-day update, DHS released this detailed fake-news fact check addressing the specific deportation cases the media and the left have been using to try to discredit the President’s mass deportation effort. From false claims about “deported” American citizens, to the “Maryland Man” and students, you will find this article helpful in understanding what’s really going on beyond the false narratives. Below, you can see the other 100-day updates:

DHS: 100 Days of Making America Safe Again
USCIS: First 100 Days: USCIS Delivering on Making America Safe Again
ICE: 100 days of record-breaking immigration enforcement in the US interior

Migrant crossings at U.S.-Mexico border stay at historically low levels 3 months into Trump crackdown
While CBP didn’t have a 100-day update, it had its own good news as April ended: Border crossings remain at historic lows. While the numbers are still preliminary, and IAP relies on the “all nationwide encounters” data, which usually drop around the middle of the month, this is exceptional news. The Trump Administration’s message that the border is no longer open appears to be holding.

Republican Immigration Expansionists at Work

While we’re happy to see significant progress being made on immigration enforcement, that hasn’t stopped certain Republicans from breaking from the rest and continuing to push for more immigration. 

Republicans hit early snags as they start crafting a massive bill for Trump's agenda
Early this week, NBC reported that Darrell Issa (R, CA-48) was pushing for a new “Gold Card” immigrant category in the House Judiciary Committee reconciliation package, which would have allowed an unlimited pool of foreigners to buy green cards. While this provision was excluded (thanks in large part to IAP’s conversations with Members of Congress and our grassroots pressure campaign), it was a troubling development. 

GOP Rep. Salazar calls for pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants
If that wasn’t bad enough, top amnesty advocate Maria Elvira Salazar (R, FL-27) is continuing her push to provide amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens in this country. Don’t be fooled: calling amnesty “dignity” doesn’t make it any less of an amnesty.

Largest joint immigration operation in Florida history leads to 1,120 criminal alien arrests during weeklong operation
This week, DHS and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis revealed they had coordinated a joint operation, resulting in the arrests of 1,120 criminal aliens in the state. This operation was the largest of its kind in history, taking place over a single week. We hope other states will replicate the Florida model to get dangerous criminal aliens off the streets and back to their home countries.

Judge rules Trump use of Alien Enemies Act for gangs is ‘unlawful’
In other legal setback this week, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Trump Administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport members of the violent Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua was unlawful. We don’t expect this to be the end of this case, but it does demonstrate the difficulty the administration will face as it attempts to enforce the law while the well-funded open-borders machine takes it to court on virtually every action.

Next Week

The House and Senate are both in town. Various House Committees will continue trying to find agreement on the non-immigration portions of the reconciliation bill. The Senate has a large pool of Trump nominees to confirm, including those for CBP Commissioner and USCIS Director, but it is unclear when those votes will take place.