The House will vote Thursday on a sweeping GOP border security bill after Republican leaders worked to lock down votes and win over holdouts within their own party.
The GOP border bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House has issued a veto threat. But the bill is expected to pass in the House and will serve as a messaging opportunity for the House Republican majority on one of their signature priorities. Final passage has been planned to coincide with the expiration of Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed certain migrants to be turned away at the border.
The bill would restart construction of a border wall, increase funding for border agents and upgraded border technology, reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy, place new restrictions on asylum seekers, and enhance requirements for E-verify, a database employers use to verify immigration status.
Republican leaders worked for months to negotiate the border and immigration package, a key piece of legislation for the GOP majority focused on an issue Republican lawmakers ran on in the midterms. But crafting immigration policy has proven complicated for House Republicans, exposing divisions within the GOP conference.
Thursday’s vote will take place after House GOP leaders agreed to make last-minute changes to the package amid concerns over various provisions from some of their members.
One issue had been over language that asks the secretary of homeland security to issue a report determining whether Mexican cartels are a “foreign terrorist organization.” Some Republicans pushed leadership to take it out of the bill, concerned it could create a new “credible fear” claim for asylum seekers.
On Wednesday, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds confirmed that leaders would be tweaking the bill to address members’ concern, including an amendment to…
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