This Issue: House announces chairs of Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees that will handle response to border crisis

Fri, Jan. 13^th

House GOP Leadership announced their committee chairs and Members this week. Most significant was the announcement of chairs for the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. These two committees are tasked with jurisdiction over immigration policy and border security, respectively, and will work on legislation to deal with the ongoing border crisis and other flaws within our broken immigration enforcement system.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will chair the Judiciary Committee. He earned an A grade from NumbersUSA in the previous Congress and, notably, cosponsored H.R. 1901, the Stopping Border Surges Act. That legislation was part of our 6 Great Solutions to fix the broken immigration enforcement system and would reduce asylum fraud and close up other loopholes that encourage illegal border crossings and allow illegal border crossers to stay and work in the U.S.

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) will chair the Homeland Security Committee. Green has only been in Congress since 2019, so his record isn't as extensive as Jordan's. But he's earned a perfect A+ grade from NumbersUSA in the Border Security category.

While we're still awaiting the official announcement, our information is that Rep. Tom McClintock will chair the important Immigration Subcommittee within the Judiciary Committee.

(NOTE: Our immigration-reduction grade cards are getting a facelift for the 118th Congress and will return online in early-February.)

First step: Border Security and Safety Act

House Republicans ran on their Commitment to America during last year's midterm elections that included a commitment to end the Biden Administration's ongoing border crisis.

GOP Leadership hopes to bring Rep. Chip Roy's (R-Texas) Border Security and Safety Act to the floor for a vote in the first few weeks of the 118th Congress. Roy's bill would authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to block all admissions into the United States in order to gain "operational control" of the border. It would also require the Secretary to block all admissions if DHS is unable to detain or swiftly remove aliens under existing legal authority.

"Operational control" is a term that was defined by the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and means:

the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.

Pres. Joe Biden voted in favor of the Secure Fence Act.

The Roy bill doesn't address everything that's needed to stop future border surges, but it's a step in the right direction and will put some pressure on a handful of House Democrats who have been critical of the Biden Administration's handling of the border crisis.

We're hopeful that House Republicans will move additional legislation to the House floor that also addresses the credible fear loophole, the Biden Administration's abuse of parole, and E-Verify.

The House will be out of town next week and will return on Jan. 24.

Chris Chmielenski
NumbersUSA Deputy Director

UPI: Chris commented on the Biden Administration's new plan to deal with the border crisis.

Chris Chmielenski, vice president and deputy director of NumbersUSA, said Biden's latest rule changes appear to be an attempt to lower the number of people at the border, not discourage them from coming in the first place.

"They are trying to streamline the process for them to enter the United States rather than trying to prevent them from coming in the first place. We would like to see the administration take stronger actions in preventing them from coming in the first place."...

He said the parole program Biden is using to allow immigrants to apply goes well beyond the scope of the powers afforded by Congress.

"It's supposed to be done on a case-by-case basis," Chmielenski said. "It's at the discretion of the secretary of homeland security. I believe that the Biden administration has abused the power that's been granted to them by Congress. They've used it over the last two years for hundreds of thousands of people."

Brietbart: Rosemary commented on Pres. Biden's assertion that his administration can expand legal immigration without Congressional authority.

"This is more smoke and mirrors than carrots and sticks."

[Jenks] added that the establishment media will accept the PR with, "Okay, thank you, may I have another?

"The underlying problem is the Democrats will not want to enforce the nation's border laws even after they award parole tickets to hundreds of thousands of migrants," Jenks said. "If [illegal aliens] can still get in, they're going to keep coming ... It's gonna be all of them plus 360,000," she said.

Rep. Chip Roy Introduces Bill to Block Illegal Migration until Border is Secure

Thu, Jan. 12^th

Texas Rep. Chip Roy has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would block illegal aliens from entering the United States until the border wall is under "operational control."

No Apocalyptic Predictions Necessary. The Present is Enough

Jeremy Beck

Thu, Jan. 12^th

The loss and destruction of critical habitat needs no Cassandra to prophecy where our current trajectory might lead when we have an abundance of indicators that tell us unequivocally where we are right at this moment. We are responsible for correcting damaging practices within our own borders. That means adopting annual immigration limits.

Black Americans Settle Suits Against Farms that Replaced Them with Visa Workers

Thu, Jan. 12^th

A group of African American laborers recently settled their lawsuits against two U.S. farms for replacing black workers with foreign H-2A visa workers from South Africa.

Hope for 2023

jeremy Beck

Tue, Jan. 10^th

Hope for the new Congress, that they may be firm in their commitment to restore credibility to our immigration system, and to reform it so that it may serve the American interest, protect the vulnerable, and leave a healthy land of opportunity for future generations.

Biden Administration Announces Plan to Expand Its Abuse of Humanitarian Parole

eric Ruark

Sat, Jan. 7^th

The Republicans elected Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker of the House last night. Now, maybe the D.C. press corp will turn their attention to Pres. Biden's new immigration plan and will focus on his abuse of parole authority to justify admitting aliens into the U.S. in violation of the law. Probably not.