The House narrowly passed the Republican-led border security package on Thursday after GOP leaders wrangled just enough support to pass the measure hours before the COVID-era Title 42 immigration policy is set to expire.
The Secure the Border Act passed the House largely along party lines, ultimately advancing with a 219-213 vote. Only two Republicans voted against the measure, allowing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to still obtain the 218 votes needed to advance the measure.
The bill’s passage comes after days of negotiations between McCarthy and key GOP holdouts that resulted in a number of last-minute changes on Wednesday in order to garner their support.
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The major legislation also marks a leadership win for McCarthy as the speaker managed to push the bill through the lower chamber on Thursday, coinciding with the expiration date of the pandemic-era Title 42 border policy. GOP leaders ran into some opposition from within their own party earlier this week that threatened to sink the bill, prompting McCarthy to undergo days of negotiations to secure enough support.
That effort appeared to pay off as Republicans managed to advance the measure with the support of some initial holdouts.
One such change made by McCarthy included adding language to the bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to evaluate the effect E-Verify would have on the agricultural sector.
That change came after Republicans expressed concerns with a provision that would require certain employers to utilize E-Verify, a web-based system that confirms a worker’s immigration status and eligibility to work in the United States before being hired. Members argued such a measure would harm the agricultural sector, which often relies on immigrant labor.
Key holdouts on that provision included Reps. David Valadao (R-CA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), who both ultimately voted to advance the legislation on Thursday.
However, it was not enough to win over Thomas Massie (R-KY), who said he would not support the legislation unless E-Verify was stripped from the bill’s language altogether. Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) also voted against the legislation.
Another change included in the bill's final language is a measure instructing Congress to commission a report that recommends a strategy on how to address Mexican cartels and "whether there should be a designation established to address such cartels." The report would also include information on how such cartels "cause harm to the United States."
That amendment was added after concerns from lawmakers such as Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who told the Washington Examiner last month he would vote against the legislation because it didn't adequately address the cartels. Crenshaw ultimately voted to advance the legislation.
The bill also failed to garner support from Democrats who hail from border states that are expected to be most affected by the end of Title 42, with some lawmakers arguing the legislation does not adequately address constituent concerns.
“So just to be clear, everybody from [non-government organizations] to farmers are against this bill,” Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) told the Washington Examiner. “NGOs in these communities that are dealing with this mass migration would be defunded under this bill. They also talked about building a wall in areas where it's not necessarily the best strategy in stopping migration … Farmers are upset over E-Verify. I mean, the list goes on and on. So, there are a lot of things that can be improved on this.”
Gonzalez criticized Republicans over their proposal, arguing GOP lawmakers are merely using the border for political messaging rather than drafting bipartisan legislation that could pass both chambers of Congress.
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“There's no legitimate possibility that it's ever going to pass the Senate because they're not talking to folks across the aisle and trying to come up with a good comprehensive immigration and border bill that would make sense,” he said. There's no push in any meaningful legislation that is actually going to help our southern border, it's all messaging.”
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it’s unlikely to garner majority support in the Democratic-led chamber. Even if it did pass the Senate, President Joe Biden has opposed the measure and threatened to veto the bill should it reach his desk.