After Funding, House Turns to Border Reforms

The House passed the immigration enforcement funding bill by a razor-thin 214-212 margin — another reminder that grassroots pressure can make the difference between victory and defeat.

After months of shutdown and delay, immigration enforcement agencies will be funded through fiscal year 2029. 

Johnson Promises Vote on Border Reforms

Before the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson huddled with Rep. Chip Roy on the House floor and committed to advancing legislation that would permanently close the loopholes exploited during the 2021-2024 border crisis.

The House passed those reforms in 2023 during the height of the crisis, but the Senate never acted on them.

(The counter shows the clock ticking on these very reforms.) 

Who’s Afraid of Workplace Security?

Punchbowl News immediately reported that some Republicans were discussing whether to strip mandatory E-Verify from the package. Long-term border security requires changes to parole and asylum policy, but illegal immigration will always be a threat as long as politicians turn a blind eye to illegal employment.

This Congress was elected to protect America from another border crisis. The next few weeks will determine whether they can deliver. 

Homeland Security Bill Includes H-2 Expansions

Amid the noise of the funding fight, House appropriators quietly slipped a massive expansion of low-wage guest workers into a separate Homeland Security funding bill. If passed, the H-2A and H-2B blue collar visa programs would grow to over half a million per year, with further increases in subsequent years.

Employers in some communities are hiring more local teenagers as immigration enforcement tightens labor markets — evidence that reducing labor competition creates opportunities for American workers.

The appropriations riders, however, would triple H-2B visas for guest workers in landscaping, hospitality, food service, and recreation – the same seasonal sectors that have traditionally provided entry-level opportunities for American teenagers.

The House may be opening up jobs through enforcement with one hand while expanding low-wage foreign labor programs with the other.

This is already projected to be the worst year for teenagers seeking summer jobs since the government started tracking the data in 1948. These visa expansions would block even more American youth from gaining valuable work experience.

Additional provisions in the bill would expand the uncapped H-2A visa program to year-round employment in industries like dairy, adding tens of thousands of additional visas per year. 

American industries that are addicted to low-wage guestworkers have fallen behind other nations in modernization. This expansion will further discourage mechanization and innovation.

In Other News

E-Verify 

The White House Office of Management and Budget drafted regulations to require all federal grant recipients to use E-Verify. Congress should take note and just mandate it for every business.

Asylum 

A federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to resume asylum processing for 39 countries banned after the shooting of two national guard members. There are 3.2 million cases in the backlog, and the latest data shows that very few of them are credible. 

Unaccompanied Children    

The government announced new indictments against “super sponsors” engaged in trafficking during the border crisis. They exploited loopholes that the House is now talking about closing.

Sanctuary

California has the single largest concentration of protected criminal aliens in any state. 

Birth Tourism

U.S. embassies in Europe and Africa uncovered multiple fraud networks seeking to exploit America’s birthright citizenship policy. The Supreme Court is expected to rule within weeks on President Trump’s executive order to align U.S. policy with most of the developed world.

Excess Visas

The U.S. imported more foreign workers to fill computer jobs last year than new computer jobs were created. 

Judge Blocks Trump’s H-1B Fee

A federal judge struck down the Trump Administration’s $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, calling it an unlawful tax. The policy, which included significant exemptions, did not reduce the number of H-1B visas issued. Join the campaign to reduce the visas here.

Dems Debate Priorities

House Democrats are debating what their priorities should be if they retake the lower chamber. The Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Yvette Clark, wants the party champion “comprehensive immigration reform” as their first bill. Joe Jenkins explores what that means.