GOP Appropriators Block Most Democratic Plans to Expand Migration

GOP legislators deserve credit for blocking most of the Democrats’ migration-expansion spending plans in the 2022 appropriations bill, says Rob Law, regulatory affairs chief at the Center for Immigration Studies.

“For once, the Republican Party on the immigration issue has really stood strong and firm,” said Law. “This is the best-case scenario.”

Business-backed pro-migration groups declared disappointment that they did not get extra taxpayer money to bring even more wage-cutting migrants into Americans’ workplaces and society.

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The bill is “Congress’ blatant attempt to conceal and quickly pass a bill that continues funding the violence of immigration enforcement at obscene levels, all while hoping to evade public scrutiny and backlash,” according to a business-backed coalition of progressive pro-migration groups. The coalition describes itself as the “Defund Hate Coalition.”

The complaints, however, come as Presiden Joe Biden’s pro-migration deputies are using their power within the agencies to import record levels of job-seeking, wage-cutting economic migrants, and record numbers of visa workers for blue-collar jobs and Fortune 500 white-collar jobs.

The spending bill was negotiated by the GOP’s legislators on the House and Senate appropriations committee and their various sub-panels.

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The GOP legislators blocked Democrats’ plans to pull more Afghan migrants into Americans’ society, to provide taxpayer-funded lawyers for illegal economic migrants, and to issue more green cards to U.S-based, white-collar contract workers who took jobs from U.S. graduates.

They blocked Democrats ‘ plans to cut funding for immigration enforcement, and to take back prior spending on the border wall, he said.

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The bill does not include GOP rules barring the funding of the Democrats’ loose-enforcement rules, does not bar the inflow of more visa workers, does not dent funding ti pro-migration non-profits, and it does not penalize officials for not completing the border wall — even as it does fund border walls in several other countries, he said. 

The Democrats’ opposition to potential GOP curbs ensures that President Joe Biden’s pro-migration border chief will continue to use his bureaucratic powers and his regulatory powers to open more border doorways for more economic migrants. Some of those doorways may be closed by lawsuits in federal courts. 

And the Democrats did win some of their priorities. They got $275 million to help accelerate the conversion of economic migrants into citizens, plus more money to bring more Afghans into the U.S. on so-called “humanitarian parole” and Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs). The bill also funds border security for eight other countries,

The bill also restarts the bipartisan EB-5 “Golden Visa” program, which cheaply sells U.S. citizenship to wealthy foreigners who help favored business groups. The EB-5 revival, however, includes major reforms sought by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Legislators from both parties also cooperated to double the annual inflow of roughly 66,000 H-2B visa workers for landscapers, restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, and ski resorts. That giveaway will reverse the job-and-wage gains enjoyed by many Americans after President Donald Trump blocked the inflow of the summer visa-workers in 2020 and 2021. 

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But, overall, the bill “is really impressive and I think it just goes to show that if you actually have a Republican Party that makes immigration a focal point and holds their ground,  there’s just not there’s not the legislative support to get this [pro-migration] stuff through. Despite all the talking points [from lobbies and media outlets] that there’s broad bipartisan support, it is obviously not there.”

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