By Joe Jenkins
The push to permanently secure the border took its biggest step forward yet this week. On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved H.R. 9773, the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act, by a 16–14 vote after an hours-long markup – the first committee approval for border-codification legislation this Congress. H.R. 9773 is the successor to H.R. … Continued
By Joe Jenkins
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) introduced the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (H.R. 9535) on June 30 with 49 original cosponsors. Supporters describe it as a practical fix for farm labor shortages. In reality, it is the most consequential expansion of the H-2A foreign agricultural worker program introduced in the 119th Congress – a bill that would … Continued
By Jeremy Beck
The U.S. dairy industry is one of the largest in the world, and the Trump Administration just opened it up to an unlimited guestworker program.
By Joe Jenkins
On June 5, 2026, the Senate passed S. 2, the Secure America Act, by a vote of 52-47. (The House passed S. 2 by a narrow 214-212 margin on June 9.) Before final passage, senators offered a long list of amendments to the bill on the Senate floor. Eleven immigration-related amendments received a recorded roll-call … Continued
By Joe Jenkins
What “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” Actually Delivered – and Why Its Enforcement Promises Could Never Be Kept More than a decade later, the 2013 “Gang of Eight” bill – the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S. 744 – is still invoked as the model for what “comprehensive immigration reform” should look like. Its … Continued
By Joe Jenkins
American teenagers are living through the worst summer job market in nearly eighty years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 219,000 fewer teenagers employed this May compared to last May. Teen unemployment has climbed to 14.7% – more than three times the national rate. The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas projects just 790,000 teen … Continued
By Joe Jenkins
A new analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies shows American workers gaining ground for the first time in years – but warns the progress is fragile without legislative codification. For the first time in decades, prime-age U.S.-born men without a college degree are walking back into the American labor market. From January 2025 to … Continued
By Joe Jenkins
Immigration enforcement is producing results not seen in decades. More than 80,000 illegal aliens accepted voluntary departure orders between January 2025 and March 2026 — at least seven times the roughly 11,400 who did so during the final 15 months of the Biden administration, according to court data compiled by the Vera Institute of Justice. … Continued
By Joe Jenkins
USCIS just filled the cap again – proving that even a $100,000 fee cannot fix what only legislation can. For a brief moment last fall, it looked as though the H-1B program might finally be shrinking. The administration imposed a $100,000 supplemental fee on new H-1B petitions in September 2025. Overseas applications collapsed almost immediately. … Continued
