This Issue: House adds an amnesty to National Defense Authorization Act

Fri, Jul. 15^th

The House of Representatives approved adding an amnesty to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday afternoon. The annual legislation that authorizes and establishes funding levels for the Department of Defense overwhelmingly passed the House by a 329-to-101 margin last night.

The amendment in question was co-introduced by Reps. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa). It would carve out a loophole in the law for the children of foreign citizens who came to the United States on temporary work visas, but have applied for permanent status. Under current law, once the child of a temporary visa holder turns 21 years old, he or she is no longer considered a dependent for purposes of the parent's green card application. Rather than treat these young adults like any other aliens who have the opportunity to apply for any visa for which they qualify, the Ross amendment changes the law to pretend that they are still children dependent on their parents and allows them to stay in the United States indefinitely, despite statutory numerical caps.

The provision would allow for around 190,000 individuals -- who age out of legal status in the future -- to permanently stay and work in the U.S. Our Capitol Hill Team alerted Members of Congress that we would score against a vote in favor of the amendment and score against the final vote on NDAA should the amendment be approved:

The vast majority of young adults who would be affected by this amendment are the children of H-1B visa holders. ... Despite the plain text of the law, and amidst rampant and well-documented abuse of the existing program, amendments like these undermine the whole notion of temporary work programs by implying that those with temporary work visas have a right to stay permanently. They also make an end-run around the numerical limits enacted by Congress. ...

If Congress fails to vote down this amendment, NumbersUSA will have no choice but to score against final passage of the NDAA.

The amendment was wrapped into an "en bloc" amendment that included 136 additional amendments. House Leaders did this purposely to avoid any debate of the Ross/Miller-Meeks immigration amendment and ensure its passage. The en bloc vote passed 277-to-150. 70% of Republicans did oppose the en bloc vote that included the amendment, but most eventually supported the overall NDAA legislation despite the amendment being included.

NDAA could have been worse

Despite the addition of the Ross amendment, the National Defense Authorization Act could have been a lot worse.

Most notably, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) filed an amendment that would have allowed foreign workers with an advanced degree in a STEM field and who work in national security to receive a green card and be exempt from annual numerical limitations. Thankfully, the House Rules Committee -- the committee tasked with establishing the rules for debate once legislation reaches the House floor -- determined that the amendment was out of order.

A number of smaller immigration-related amendments were also ruled out of order by the Rules Committee, including (1) granting amnesty to illegal-alien military spouses and (2) granting amnesty to certain Venezuelans.

Thanks to all of you who contacted your Representatives on the Rules Committee, urging them to block the immigration amendments from the defense bill.

What's next?

The Senate is working on its own version of the National Defense Authorization Act, but has yet to schedule a vote on the legislation. We've posted new actions on your Action Board urging your U.S. Senators to keep immigration provisions out of the NDAA during one of the worst border crises in history.

CHRIS Chmielenski
NumbersUSA Deputy Director

Tulsa World: Columnist Michael Overall referenced NumbersUSA's recent national sprawl study.

New suburban development in Oklahoma covered more than 1,133 square miles between 2002 and 2017, the most recent year with available data, according to a recent national study by NumbersUSA.

More than 67% of all the land that has ever been developed in the state has been developed in just the past 40 years, according to the study. Nearly one-third of all development has occurred in just the past 20 years.

Breitbart: Director of Government Relations Rosemary Jenks commented on the acknowledgement by business groups that mass immigration reduces wages.

"It's despicable this organization would demand that the federal government reduce Americans' wages by importing additional foreign labor," said Rosemary Jenks, the director of government relations for NumbersUSA. She told Breitbart News:

"It also means higher housing costs and worse education outcomes because we have to support the Americans whose wages have been cut, and you're going to have to support the (low-wage) foreign workers ... It is just beyond me how they can have such disregard for their fellow Americans."

Schilling Show Unleashed (Charlottesville, VA): Chris appeared on Rob Schilling's recent podcast to discuss the ongoing border surge and recent Supreme Court ruling on the Remain in Mexico policy.

Listen here.

WHO ARE COUNTRY'S "TRUE REFORMERS"

NumbersUSA awards the True Reformer label to candidates who promise to support all or nearly all of NumbersUSA's top priorities in 12 categories.

You can view every one of the nation's True Reformer candidates here.

And you can use the map on that page to look up any congressional race in the country and what is known about the positions of each of the hundreds of candidates' on enforcement and immigration reduction policies.

HELP US PIN DOWN MORE CANDIDATES ON IMMIGRATION ISSUES

Contact your favorite candidates and urge them to state their position on one or more of the 12 immigration issues on our survey, which can be found here.

Watch your local news media and social media carefully for any comments congressional candidates in your District or State make about immigration. Email them to Joe Jenkins at:

[email protected]

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