The House passed HR 2, The Secure the Border Act, on Thursday, May 11, 2023, with no Democratic support and with two Republican votes against the bill. HR 2 would require millions of dollars of funds to beef up security at the border, place restrictions on asylum, and restart construction on the controversial wall at
The House is planning to vote on their signature immigration package, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, this week. House Republicans have made immigration a focus issue this Congress and have held hearings about border security in multiple committees. This bill has had two separate markups in the House Homeland Security and House Judiciary
On April 18, 2023, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing concerning the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) unaccompanied children program. The witness, director of the ORR, Ms. Robin Dunn-Marcos defended the current system used to care for unaccompanied migrant children. However, congressmen from both sides of the aisle raised concerns and were
On Thursday, April 13, 2023, President Biden announced that hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children will be eligible for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges. This action will allow participants in the Obama-era’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to access government-funded health
In January, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro sent letters to Federal agency heads asking for information about how the agencies would be impacted by the House Republicans’ proposal to cap spending at the FY 2022 funding levels. “The American people and Members of Congress deserve to know the real impact this policy would
On March 22, 2023, the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee held a hearing with the Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as the witness. Both Democrats and Republicans expressed their concerns over the President’s FY2024 budget requests for the Department of HHS.
In recent months, thousands of immigrant families have been relocated to communities across the country by the governors of Arizona, Florida, and Texas. These families lack safe and secure housing and can experience homelessness for months. At the very least, schools can be places of stability for youth in helping them mitigate the trauma and
On March 1, 2023, The House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held a hearing titled, “The Fentanyl Crisis in America: Inaction is No Longer an Option.” Under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary committee, the subcommittee is led by Chairman Biggs [R-AZ] and Ranking Member Lee [D-TX]. In 2021, over 107,000 people in
The House Committee on Homeland Security held its first hearing of the 118th Congress on February 28, 2023, titled, “Every State is a Border State: Examining Secretary Mayorkas’ Border Crisis.” Under the leadership of Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-MS), this hearing discussed contemporary immigration policies at the U.S. Southern Border
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule that would reduce the number of refugees that are able to seek asylum in the United States. Under this rule, most asylum seekers who cross into the United States between ports of entry or who present themselves at a port of entry without
