There are only two full weeks left of session this month, and Congress is set to focus on working through the appropriations process until the August recess. We’re closely watching the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill as it moves through committee, as it could have significant implications for immigration policy.

As the text stands now, the status quo cheap labor provision of previous DHS Appropriations bills remains tucked away in the middle of the bill. Yet again, Congress wants to give the Executive Branch the power to nearly double the available H-2B visas (temporary non-agricultural). This is considerably better than the base appropriations bill last year, which sextupled the H-2B visas and even opened up the numerically unlimited H-2A program (temporary agricultural) to more industries. That bill would have been devastating for American workers and was amended to have the same visa-doubling language as this year’s DHS appropriations bill.

It’s bad news, but it could be worse. As the bill moves through full committee markup, there could be efforts to make the bill even worse for American workers, so stay tuned and be ready to use your Action Board to respond.

Despite months of claiming that the President couldn’t act to secure the border without Congress passing the Lankford/Murphy border deal, the President’s proclamation also sets a threshold for using that authority which would normalize crisis-level illegal immigration. Using 8 USC 1182(f), a power the President has had this whole time, the border proclamation would suspend entry when there is a daily average of 2,500 illegal encounters. Over a year, that’s 912,500 encounters, just shy of our entire legal immigration system.

Of course, the loopholes are so broad that any alien could be allowed to enter, even during a period of suspension. Exceptions include unaccompanied alien children (UACs), those using the CBP One app to schedule their illegal entry at a port of entry, and those that the Secretary simply chooses to bring due to “operational considerations.”

Not only is it noteworthy that the proclamation simply appears to direct individuals to ports of entry to enter illegally, but the UAC exception could incentivize larger numbers of children to show up at the border.

If you’d like to do a deep dive on the proclamation itself, check out our fact sheet!