Republicans unveil ‘strongest immigration bill ever’ two weeks before Title 42 termination

House Republicans unveiled a sprawling new border and immigration reform package they say is the “strongest immigration bill ever.”

The package brings together a Judiciary Committee bill on immigration law with a Homeland Security Committee bill on border restrictions, and leaders said at a news conference Thursday they believe it has the support of 218 — the number needed to pass the House .

“We have created the strongest immigration enforcement legislation ever. It treats [unaccompanied children]it’s about the Flores situation, asylum, E-verify and of course the Remain in Mexico policy, as well as visa overstays,” Judiciary Commission Chairman Jim Jordan said at a press conference.

It comes as a caravan of 3,000 men heads to Mexico City, where they hope to pressure government officials to give them exit visas so they can continue their journey to the US border.

The group consists mainly of Venezuelans, but also of Asians and Chinese.

The bill omits controversial asylum restrictions that rebelled against centrist Republicans like Rep. Tony Gonzales – Republicans ignored the provision that Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas to expel anyone seeking asylum who cannot hold their desk or move to Mexico.

Gonzales called that idea, part of an original proposal by fellow Texas Republican Chip Roy, “unchristian” and expressed concern about potentially legitimate asylum seekers.

Roy himself proposed an amendment to remove the asylum language during a protracted court draft.

The district of Gonzales is home to 800 miles of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. The congressman even threatened to vote against Chairman Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling plan if leadership thwarted the version of the bill he wasn’t happy with.

Judge Jim Jordan, whose committee spearheaded the immigration reform part of the package, boasts that it is the ‘strongest immigration law ever’

When asked if Gonzales was on board with the package, State Secretary Michael McCaul said, “He supported it last night.”

The GOP leadership has promised to take the bill to the floor in May after McCarthy at one point said a border package would be the first item he brought to the floor as speaker. One such package was delayed in part because of an argument between Freedom Caucus member Roy and centrist Gonzales.

Homeland Security’s portion of the package would resume border wall construction, increase the number of Border Patrol agents, and modernize border security technology.

It is also said that asylum seekers schedule appointments via an app – the CBP One app – which has been newly expanded for this purpose. The committee finished marking that bill around 3 a.m. Thursday morning.

Representative Bennie Thompson, top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, called the legislation “deeply immoral.”

He said it would “create chaos at the border by essentially halting the asylum process” and disagreed with provisions that strip government funding from nonprofits that provide humanitarian aid to migrants.

The migrant caravan consists of Central and South Americans, as well as foreigners from China and other Asian countries who are pressuring the Mexican government to provide buses for their transfer, documents for their registration and dialogue with senior officials

Migrants march along the side of a highway in Alvaro Obregón, Chiapas, Monday

The additional law on the judiciary would limit asylum seekers’ entry at the border and increase penalties for violations. It would also limit the Secretary of Homeland Security’s authority to grant humanitarian parole and require employers to use E-verify to ensure that the employees they hire are legally resident in the US

McCaul acknowledged that the bill would garner no Democratic votes, dooming it to fail in the Senate.

“This is an answer to a solution,” he said. ‘It must be twofold. It’s sad that it isn’t. I told Bennie Thompson that last night. Why can’t this be twofold? We used to do that. We used to do that this is going to be the Republican solution.’

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have introduced their own border package that needs another dig at funding to hire 87,000 IRS agents passed under the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — $15 billion intended for the IRS to divert to the southern border.

That bill, spearheaded by Senators Bill Cassidy and Tim Scott and co-sponsored by six others, would fund border inspections, the border wall and enforcement technologies, and end catch and release policies.

The new policy comes as the deadline for Title 42 is fast approaching — the pandemic-era public health policy that allows immediate eviction expires May 11.

On Thursday Mayorkas and Sec. of State Antony Blinken held a rare joint press conference to explain their way forward as Title 42 draws to a close.

“Our border is not open and will not be open after May 11,” Mayorkas said, even though he said the number of encounters would “increase” once the policy is lifted.

The Department of Homeland Security has predicted that officers could see up to 10,000 migrants a day when the policy expires.

The migrants expect to make the 750-mile journey to Mexico City in 10 days, but hope it can be shortened for many of the 3,000 people if the Mexican government provides ground transportation

The Biden administration plans to expand legal migration and open processing centers in South and Central America so that migrants hoping to enter can be pre-screened to see if they meet basic qualifications for various forms of entry before they make the journey.

The centers will become operational in Guatemala and Colombia in the coming weeks. Canada and Spain have also agreed to accept migrants from the centres.

Republicans tore at the idea.

‘The more you stimulate people, the bigger the wave will be. And all the processing centers do is give more impetus, the door is even more open. “All I have to do is get a drug cartel coyote to fill out my CBP one app for me,” Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said at a news conference.

“What President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas are doing is doubling down on the failed policies that created this problem, rather than working with us to solve the problem. Again, we have the most generous, most generous immigration system in the world. America allows more than a million people to enter our country legally here,” Majority Leader Scalise said each year.