House to Take Up Immigration This Week

WASHINGTON – The House is poised to vote on two immigration bills this week, as debate continues over how to address the surging numbers of migrant children and families being detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The first bill, the Dream and Promise Act, would provide a path to citizenship for Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the country as children and have remained in the country illegally. This bill also provides a path to citizenship for the immigrants living in the U.S. with Temporary Protected Status. Seven House Republicans supported this legislation last time around.

The second bill, the Farm Modernization Workforce Act, aims to provide a path to citizenship for farm workers who are living in the country illegally. Thirty-four Republicans supported this legislation last Congress.

Both bills passed the House last session but were never taken up in the Senate. It is unlikely either will receive the 60 votes needed to pass in the Senate this time around, which means the reconciliation process will once again come into play.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is taking a delegation of a dozen GOP members to El Paso, Texas, today as part of an effort to highlight what they say is a crisis at the border that the Biden administration has failed to adequately address.

The Biden administration said about 4,000 migrant youths were being held at Customs and Border Protection facilities last week after more than 9,400 were detained without a parent in February – up from more than 5,800 in January.

That prompted the Department of Homeland Security to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help facilitate shelter, nutrition and basic medical care for the surge of migrant children that have been arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.