Each year the Republican Study Committee (RSC) proposes a federal budget highlighting what policy initiatives and ideological directions outline their vision for a United States Government that can operate within its means and in the direct interest of its citizens. This year's budget pays close attention to the current crisis at the southern border and champions common-sense reforms that would transform a failing immigration system designed to favor big business and the investor class into one that defends the safety and economic opportunity of working American citizens and already present immigrants.
Founded in 1973, the RSC is the largest ideological caucus in the United States Congress, composed of 153 Republicans. According to the RSC website, the committee "exists to bring like-minded House members together to promote a strong, principled legislative agenda that will limit government, strengthen our national defense, boost America's economy, preserve traditional values and balance our budget."
NumbersUSA issued the following statement:
The Republican Study Committee’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget is a bold statement of hope to the millions of working-class American citizens and lawful residents that our immigration system should serve your interests, not undercut them. We are thrilled to see the RSC call for reshaping the immigration system to protect national security, economic opportunity, and the rule of law.
The budget calls for ending chain migration and the visa lottery, reforming birthright citizenship so that automatic citizenship is only conferred to children of US citizens or lawful permanent residents, defunding sanctuary cities, mandating E-Verify, ending visa overstays and asylum fraud, and improving border security. Combined, these policies would fundamentally rewrite our immigration system for the better. They would reform the legal immigration system to reflect the Barbara Jordan Commission recommendations by focusing immigration policy on nuclear family and those with needed skills. They would ensure that American jobs go to Americans and legal foreign workers, and not to illegal aliens. They would ensure that American employers play by the rules, instead of undercutting competitors by hiring cheap, illegal labor. They would make our communities safer by withholding taxpayer dollars from jurisdictions that release convicted criminal aliens back into the community to victimize more people. Finally, they would go a long way toward ending the Biden border crisis.
NumbersUSA applauds Chairman Banks, Chairman Hern, the Leadership and Membership of the RSC, and their staff for having the courage to stand squarely with the American people.
The committee begins by bluntly arguing that "U.S. immigration policy should be designed to primarily serve the interest of American citizens, families, and workers" before moving on to what the RSC believes to be four fundamental principles one should use when contemplating such policy. Those principles are:
• Immigration policy should protect our national security by protecting the American people from terrorism, cartels, and other threats to their safety;
• Immigration policy should prioritize American workers, help grow our middle class, raise wages, and enhance economic opportunity for all lawful residents;
• Immigration policy should respect the rule of law, along with immigrants that honor our legal immigration processes, rather than incentivize law breaking; and
• Immigration policy should aim to assimilate legal immigrants into the American family so they too can take pride in our values, history, and heritage.
It is only through embracing these principles that the U.S. immigration system can "lead to a safer, more secure, more prosperous, and more united country," the committee rightly argues.
The RSC seems cognizant of the fact that their principles appear antithetical to those expressed by the current administration, stating that "President Biden and Congressional Democrats have rolled out the welcome mat to all who would illegally cross into the United States."
This "welcome mat," the RSC argues, is the trigger of "a full-blown border crisis marked by a surge in illegal crossings and human trafficking." The alternative budget goes on to highlight just a few of the most damning statistics of the Biden Administration's failings when it comes to border security:
• At 136,679, the average monthly illegal crossings of the Southwest border since Biden took office is 142% higher than the average of 56,420 during this time period averaged over the three full fiscal years Trump was in office after beginning to secure the border. In certain sectors, encounters are up over 368% since last year.
• According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the number of illegal aliens that cross the border and then disappear into the interior of the country is up 156%.
• 2 Yemenis on a Terror Watchlist arrested attempting to cross into the U.S. across the Southern Border.
• Some of Biden's holding cages for kids were at 1556% capacity, and he denied Congress and the press access to these facilities.
The RSC Budget doesn't just list and lament current problems facing the U.S. immigration system, though; instead, the budget goes on to recommend a selection of bills already introduced in the House of Representatives in addition to several ideological initiatives not yet put to paper.
The RSC's first recommendation is for the Federal Government to realize how essential it is to prohibit aliens from overstaying their temporary visas, the leading cause of illegal immigration in the U.S. Sadly, the Biden Administration recently announced that it would stop fining aliens who overstay their visas and expunge penalties previously owed by overstayers.
The RSC argues rewarding lawbreakers in this way creates a self-perpetuating cycle and that the issue can only be addressed through "rigorous enforcement," even going as far as to support adding "bond requirements to certain visas with high overstay rates to mitigate the issue of visa overstays."
The alternative budget goes on to recommend the prohibition of federal funds from going to cities or jurisdictions operating as sanctuaries for illegal aliens. According to CIS's sanctuary tracker, there are over 190 of these jurisdictions across the country actively balking at U.S. immigration law and knowingly endangering their law-abiding constituents.
Additionally, the RSC Budget supports hiring more immigration judge teams to handle backlogs and make it easier to secure our borders and ports of entry.
The RSC Budget would also mandate all employers to use the free and easy-to-use E-Verify system to ensure that any prospective employee is legally allowed to work in the U.S. and make sure that no job that could be given to an American is given to an illegal alien.
Another recommendation made by the RSC is for the nation to return to the original intent of the 14th Amendment and reform the practice of 'Birthright Citizenship' so that citizenship is only conferred at birth to someone born of at least one U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States. Between birth tourism schemes and Chain Migration, 'Birthright Citizenship' is often a magnet for aliens to illegally enter the U.S., have a child, then have that child become an anchor point for a seemingly endless chain of additional migrants.
Perhaps the two most important policy recommendations made by the RSC Budget are the closure of the Diversity Visa Lottery and the ending of the practice of Family-Chain Migration. The committee's opinions on the nonsensical Visa Lottery are pretty simple, "The diversity lottery visa program arbitrarily hands out 55,000 visas a year to people who have not necessarily been vetted to determine their potential dangerousness, whether they can offer valuable skills to our nation, or whether they will be a financial burden to the United States."
The committee goes on to explain the detrimental effects of Chain Migration in their budget, noting how the practice is used to bring distantly related family members of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident into the country. According to the alternative budget, "in F.Y. 2019, 68.8% of new immigrants came in through chain migration, and only 13.5% came in as prospective employees."
Finally, the RSC Budget endorses ten pieces of legislation already or previously introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. They are as follows:
Rep. Clay Higgins' (R-LA) bill, the Finish the Wall Act, which is committed to securing our nation's borders by finishing wall construction projects proposed by Trump, enforcing current immigration laws, prohibiting the illegal movement of people, weapons, and drugs, and strict enforcement of penalties arising from breaking those laws.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler's (R-PA) No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which would bar any government from prohibiting or restricting employers from complying with federal immigration laws, cooperating with immigration enforcement, or complying with immigration-related informational inquiries from federal officials.
Rep. Randy Feenstra's (R-IA) bill, Sarah's Law, which would ensure that federal authorities can detain, until ICE can process them, any illegal alien that commits a crime that results in the death of another person.
Rep. Mike Johnson's (R-LA) bill, the Closing Asylum Loopholes Act, which would establish standardized and robust criteria for assessing asylum claims, including recording such interviews.
Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) bill, Expatriate Terrorist Act, which would allow for the revocation of citizenship for those who commit terrorism.
Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) bill, the Diamond and Silk Act, which would create a private right of action for victims of illegal alien crime to sue sanctuary jurisdictions for damages.
Rep. Matthew Rosendale's (R-MT) bill, REMAIN in Mexico Act of 2021, which would require DHS to implement the Migrant Protection Protocols as outlined in the January 25, 2019, DHS memo.
Rep. Warren Davidson's (R-OH) bill, Fairness in Representation Amendment, which would restore fair representation for all Americans by apportioning seats for the House of Representatives by the number of U.S. citizens in each state.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler's (R-MO) bill, Eradicate Crossing of Illegal Tunnels, which would authorize the DHS to take various actions to facilitate the search for and destruction of unlawful border crossing tunnels on private land.
