The House of Representatives approved a spending bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the 2024 fiscal year. The Republican-led effort included a number of provisions to strengthen immigration enforcement, including defunding the Biden Administration's use of the CBP One app to allow illegal migrants to apply for parole and defunding other efforts to weaken interior enforcement and expand parole authority. In a piece of good news, a harmful provision that would have drastically expanded H-2 visas was reverted back to last year's provision that allows the DHS Secretary, in consultation with the Department of Labor, to roughly double the number of H-2B visas for the fiscal year.
The legislation passed the House 220-208, mostly along party lines. All Republicans voted for the legislation, while most Democrats opposed the bill. Two Democrats crossed party lines and joined with the Republicans, including Rep. Jared Golden of Maine and Rep. Marie Perez of Washington.
Despite current funding expiring at midnight on September 30, the Senate has yet to pass a spending bill for DHS. Both Chambers will try to pass a Continuing Resolution over the next several days to avoid a government shutdown. The House version will include most of the House-passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, to end the ongoing border surge. The Senate is still considering border language that can be added to its version of a Continuing Resolution that can also obtain the necessary 60 votes to pass.
View the roll call of the DHS vote in the House by clicking here.
