Earlier, by Federale: What Can The Republican House Do On Immigration? A Lot, Even With A Small Majority
The midterms weren’t a complete disaster for Republicans. They won the House and can act on the illegal-alien invasion at the southwest border. The GOP campaigned (too quietly) on the border crisis and voters who rated immigration as an important issue were more likely to go Republican. Polls show widespread disapproval for Joe Biden’s policy of Open Borders. Americans want their government to secure the border and to deport illegal aliens. They also want those responsible for this attack on the Historic American Nation to pay a price. So what will a GOP-led House will likely do—and not do—on immigration?
Immigration patriots should be most happy with what Congress will not do. Almost certainly, Amnesty will not pass a Republican-controlled House. Democrats tried to pass three Amnesties last year. One legalized the so-called Dreamers (illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as minors), another legalized illegal-alien farm workers, and the third was the budget bill that would have legalized millions of illegals. The first two Amnesties received some Republican support, but a number of those Republicans are gone. The third received only Democratic support and, like the other two bills, died in the Senate.
Another proposed Amnesty, President Biden’s brainstorm, would have given all illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship. It was dead on arrival. Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis tried to offer a limited Amnesty for Dreamers (only those who signed up for the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program would get legal status), but Democrats rejected it as not enough.
California’s Kevin McCarthy, expected to be the next House Speaker, pledged before the election that a GOP-controlled House would not consider any Amnesty. That likely kills any attempt to revive either Amnesty that received GOP support last year. It also ensures that Democrats cannot sneak an Amnesty into a budget bill. Control of the House allows Republicans to kill these bad ideas in committee and determine if they even get floor vote [Kevin McCarthy Pledges as Speaker He Will Not Consider Amnesty or Gun Control Legislation, by Matthew Boyle, Breitbart, January 10, 2022].
Not pushing for Amnesty might not sound like much of an accomplishment. But it’s a major improvement from the pre-Trump GOP. After Republicans lost the 2012 elections, GOP brainstrusters thought passing an Amnesty was the party’s only hope to recover. Many conservative commentators and Republican lawmakers pushed for it. Several GOP senators voted for the Gang of Eight Amnesty in 2013. Now, a grand Amnesty of that nature has no chance of passing. Republicans know their base hates Amnesty, and that Democrats will not offer border security in exchange for a pathway to citizenship. It’s either straight legalization or nothing. Both sides have grown closer to their bases on this issue, which undermines any possibility of a deal. That’s good news for immigration patriots.
“41 GOP Senators should block any long-term funding bill so the new GOP House can attach border security in the new year,” tweeted former POTUS 45 Trump aide Stephen Miller. “What is happening now on our border is a level 10 cataclysm.”
41 GOP Senators should block any long-term funding bill so the new GOP House can attach border security in the new year. What is happening now on our border is a level 10 cataclysm. https://t.co/NLUQkUcpDE
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) November 30, 2022
Exactly.
Now that Republicans have the power of the purse, they can use it to force the Biden Regime to fund more border security and to enforce the law, which DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is blatantly ignoring. McCarthy even vowed as much during his border visit last week [Visiting Texas border, Kevin McCarthy calls on DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign, by Matthew Choi, Texas Tribune, November 22, 2022]. The House could withhold funding for a variety of government programs to force the Biden Regime to restore Remain in Mexico and Title 42 public health expulsions, and then increase legally-required deportations.
But the problem: these options require the GOP to have a backbone and not to cave to Democrat/ Regime Media pressure.
Republicans have discussed using impeachment as a weapon against Biden’s Open Border policies for months. With control of the House, Republicans can now actually impeach. But whom?
The obvious candidate: Biden. He’s absolutely responsible for the Biden Rush at the southwest border. But it appears Republicans may shy away from this for the time being, at least. McCarthy has said he won’t impeach Biden for “political reasons,” whatever that means. Other prominent Republicans spoke out against impeaching Biden following the disappointing midterm results. “The failure to win the Senate hurts a lot, and I think, to be honest, the margin does make a difference,” Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole told Politico earlier this month. “A lot of the people that put us in the majority are from relatively moderate seats. I would hate to put them in that position unless there was an overwhelming reason to [impeach],” [The latest victim from House GOP’s election night: impeachment, by Jordain Carney, November 17, 2022]. Republicans likely don’t have the votes to impeach Biden, and a failed impeachment is not something the party needs.
Still, Republicans might defy McCarthy and more timid party members. Recall that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed impeaching Trump in 2019 because it would be “too divisive” [Nancy Pelosi on Impeaching Trump: ‘He’s Just Not Worth It’, by Joe Heim, The Washington Post, March 11, 2019]. Eight months later, Democrats impeached him. Given enough pressure from below, maybe McCarthy will change his mind, too.
Fifty-five percent of Republicans want Biden impeached [More than a quarter of the country wants the GOP to start impeachment investigations against Biden, by Rafi Schwartz, The Week, November 21, 2022] That number will likely rise as the GOP House investigates Hunter Biden and the border crisis worsens.
Then again, if the GOP doesn’t go after Biden, it might just target Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. GOP House leaders do support that idea. McCarthy called on the DHS chief to resign last week and promised an impeachment inquiry. GOP leaders think they might have the votes to impeach Mayorkas, and that the proceedings could force him to resign. Indeed, Biden might think it’s best to push Mayorkas out if he faces impeachment. That would force the border crisis into the news cycle and make Democrats defend their open border policies.
It could be an easy win for Republicans. But it still doesn’t address the man ultimately responsible for these policies.
And finally:
The GOP-led House could also pass bad bills. The two main possibilities: a limited Amnesty; and an increase in guest-worker visas.
The first option depends on whether Democrats agree to any kind of border security in return. Congress nearly made a deal for Amnesty to Dreamers in exchange for patriotic immigration reforms in 2018. Those efforts failed, but they might be revived if Democrats are willing to make any kind of compromise—which, however, is doubtful.
The greater threat: increasing guest-workers. GOP donors have pressured lawmakers to give them more cheap foreign labor with the deceptive claim that immigrants are the only solution to America’s labor problems. A number of Republicans and Democrats might well make a deal to screw American workers. But one thing that could kill this terrible idea is the recession. It would be terrible politics to increase the number of foreign workers at a time when Americans are being laid off.
So the one guaranteed thing a Republican House will do is stop a grand Amnesty. It’s not progress, but it’s better than what immigration patriots faced before.
To do more, Republicans must keep the House and win the Senate and White House in 2024.
Washington Watcher II [Email him] is an anonymous DC insider.
