On Tuesday, Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) introduced a new border security bill, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. With the support of House Leadership, they filed the bill as H.R. 2, showing it as the second top priority for this Congress. The bill, including mandatory E-Verify, is expected to come to the House floor for a vote next week.
Congressmen Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Clay Higgins (R-La.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), John Carter, and Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) also cosponsored H.R. 2, the Diaz-Balart - McClintock border security bill.
H.R. 2 (The Secure the Border Act of 2023) is a serious approach to finally ending the Biden Border Crisis. Before taking over leadership of the House of Representatives, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) promised to secure the border in Republicans' Commitment to America; the Diaz-Balart - McClintock border security bill is a significant step toward fulfilling that promise.
Getting this historic legislation through the House would be a major milestone, including having most, if not all, Republican House Members on the record for supporting mandatory E-Verify, ending the policies that allow for catch-and-release, and closing the asylum loopholes.
H.R. 2, The Secure the Border Act of 2023, would, among other provisions:
- Plug loopholes in the asylum system that are currently being exploited by economic migrants by raising the bar for "credible fear" claims and denying entry to aliens claiming asylum at the border who have passed through a safe third country on their way to the United States and failed to apply in that safe country;
- Block the administration from continuing its policy of catch-and-release by making most illegal aliens ineligible for parole or release from custody other than to be returned to their home country or returned to a contiguous country to await the adjudication of their asylum claim there (Remain in Mexico);
- Prevent family units who cross the border illegally from being released into the United States by requiring family units apprehended at the border to be detained, protecting them from exploitation and victimization by the cartels and traffickers;
- Fulfill the promise of a lawful workforce with permanent, mandatory, nationwide E-Verify, which would shut off the "jobs magnet" for illegal immigration while protecting jobs for American workers.
- Rein in the breathtaking and illegal abuse of parole that this administration has been using to create its own immigration system outside of the confines of the Immigration and Nationality Act; and
- Install teeth into efforts to deter visa overstays.
You can read the complete bill here.
