The House Republican leadership is pushing for a postponement of a planned price increase next week on multiple immigration and border security bills amid infighting among members — a move likely to deter immigration hawks eager to see action from the caucus on the historic migrant crisis at the southern border.
Punchbowl News reported Thursday that the leadership has asked R-Ohio Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to postpone a scheduled consideration of as many as eight border and immigration laws next week before the April recess.
But sources told the outlet that leadership had delayed formatting until after recess, meaning it will be more than four months since Republicans took control of the House before any consideration of legislation to address the ongoing migrant crisis on the southern border. A source familiar with the situation confirmed the Punchbowl News report to Fox News Digital.
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Republicans planned to raise as many as eight bills next week. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)
Jordan told Punchbowl that “we have eight pieces of legislation that we think make sense, and we’ll be done as soon as possible, but we’re working with the entire conference.”
Republicans have little leeway when it comes to defections, as they only hold a five-seat majority in the lower chamber. While there is consensus on the broad outlines of how the caucus should address the migrant crisis, deep divisions have emerged among members.
In particular, the legislation introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, which would allow DHS to block illegal immigrants’ entry into the US until there is “operational control” of the border, has met with internal Republican opposition from a small number of lawmakers. .
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, has been the bill’s most outspoken opponent, calling it anti-American and claiming it bans asylum — a claim Roy has denied. Gonzales’ opposition to the bill was one of the reasons the Texan Republican Party rejected him this month.
But Republicans had campaigned to come up with solutions to the border crisis and have already held a number of hearings at the border to draw attention to the crisis. Last year, Republicans unveiled a number of policy proposals to secure the border, which they said they would advance if they took the House. The policies include completing the Trump-era border wall, expanding Title 42, modernizing technology and overhauling the asylum system.
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Since then, some Republicans — including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — have raised the possibility of impeaching DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. That move has yet to take place, though two lawmakers have introduced articles of impeachment.
A coalition of aggressive groups, including the Heritage Foundation, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), America First Policy Institute and Numbers USA, had written a letter to GOP leaders in February urging the party to follow through on its promises – and warned that resources alone were not enough. enough and that laws needed to be changed to close loopholes.
In a statement on Thursday, Heritage Action executive director Jessica Anderson said border security should be the “top priority” for the House.
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“House Republicans have been in power for several months,” she wrote. “They should immediately develop and consider a border security package that will end asylum fraud, create an authority to immediately deport illegal aliens, direct resources to complete the border wall, and provide border agents with the personnel and resources necessary to carry out their duties. not the mass release of illegal aliens as mandated by the Biden administration. Migrants should be discouraged from making the perilous journey of illegally crossing the border, and no possibility of amnesty should be promised.”
Anderson noted the ongoing fentanyl crisis, which is primarily smuggled across the border, as well as cartel trafficking and an increase in the number of individuals on terror watch lists. While she blamed the Biden administration’s “deliberate border destruction”, she also urged action by the Republicans.
“The time is now – US sovereignty has been seriously damaged. Heritage Action is urging House Republicans to honor their pledge to America and move forward with consideration of a border security package,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Democrats and the Biden administration have attacked the Republicans for not agreeing to the Biden administration’s border security funding requests. President Joe Biden himself has called on Republicans in Congress to support additional funding for the ports, as well as pathways to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the US
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
He can be reached at [email protected] or at Twitter.
