With the Title 42 public health order set to expire on May 11, some lawmakers are warning that a new wave of migrants will overwhelm the U.S.-Mexico border. House Republicans aim to show they’re serious about these concerns, and expect to have a bill addressing the issue ready by mid-May.
GOP efforts to address border concerns have come in the form of two bills: The Border Security and Enforcement Act, which passed last week through the House Judiciary Committee, aimed to limit illegal immigration; and the Border Reinforcement Act, brought forth Monday by the Homeland Security Committee, that would provide new resources to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
As it stands, the two bills are set to be merged into one, and that’s the aim of two of the most high-profile Republicans in the Texas Congressional Delegation. But if the two issues—the border and immigration—are divided, as a third Texas border congressman has suggested, Representative Chip Roy and Senator John Cornyn told Newsweek they won’t support moving forward.
“I’m not interested in anything that doesn’t change the policies that are currently creating the crisis,” Roy, who serves as policy chair for the House Freedom Caucus, told Newsweek. “We will secure the border by changing policy, literally nuke the joint, burn the place down if they don’t do that.”
“There is no enforcement without policy,” Roy explained. “Any other statement is completely fallacious and should be completely ignored, and the person should not be in public office.”
Addressing the border through a combined immigration and enforcement package is not an idea unique to Roy. Both Democrats and Republicans have called in the past for the issues to be coupled together.
However, moderate GOP Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas, whose district spans more than a third of the border and has expressed an eagerness to pass a bill through both chambers, has said border enforcement and immigration should be handled as separate issues, including in a recent interview with Newsweek.
Gonzales took past issue with Roy’s proposals in the Judiciary bill, arguing that they limit legal immigration channels. While moderates in the Senate, including Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, have stressed the need for enhanced border enforcement, a bill that limits legal immigration may struggle to win enough support from Senate Democrats to pass. This is especially the case, as Gonzales has noted, if a House bill cannot get his support.
The two bills being brought forward address two separate aspects of the border situation. The Homeland Security bill addresses CBP’s ability to enforce current immigration laws, and the Judiciary bill focuses on changing the laws that dictate entrance into the country.
House Republicans say the Judiciary bill aims to deter fraudulent asylum claims, penalize visa overstayers, curb executive authority over temporary stays and crack down on the hiring of undocumented immigrants.
Among its many features, the Homeland Security bill calls for the rebuilding of the Border Wall started under former President Donald Trump, mandates the hiring of new Border Patrol agents, provides for new technology, offers grants for local law enforcement that aid in border security, and limits how the CBP One App can be used for immigration processing.
While the bills may be different in their focus, Cornyn agrees with Roy that the two measures should likely be linked together to fully address the issue.
“I’ve heard people theorize that those are not related, but they’re inextricably intertwined,” Cornyn told Newsweek. “You can’t do one without the other.”
Cornyn, Texas’ senior senator, has played a role in past successful bipartisan negotiations on issues like gun safety, and figures prominently in congressional discussions of border security. He has traveled with Democrats and fellow Republicans to examine the border situation multiple times during this congressional session, and his support will likely be key to a bill to reaching the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate.
“In the Senate it’s a little different [than the House], because any senator can offer an amendment on virtually any topic,” Cornyn said. “The lines aren’t that clean like they are in the House, their border bill is going to be the product of Homeland Security and the Judiciary. So, I think, try as people might or as much as they would like to separate those issues, I don’t think you can.”
While many political observers deem the passage of a border and immigration package as unlikely in a divided Congress, the issue remains on the minds of voters heading into 2024, as encounters between CBP and migrants remain at levels double those seen during the end of the Trump administration, according to CBP figures. Passage of a package would likely be deemed a significant win for both parties.
As seen in the reservations of moderates like Gonzales though, it’s expected that any significant curbing of immigration channels would allow Democrats to label the measure as “extreme.”
But if the bill does gain widespread support among the GOP conference, there’s a chance that it could see some support from moderate Democrats, placing pressure on Democratic Leader Charles Schumer to bring the measure to vote. In late March, Democratic senator Mark Kelly of Arizona told Newsweek he’d be open to supporting a party-line GOP border bill, depending on its content.
Measures to address the immigration court case backlog and update work visa pathways have been floated as bipartisan immigration measures. While those provisions are not focuses of the current bill, Roy said he’s “open to different ways to deal with the crisis,” but added “not without changing the policies that are creating the crisis in the first place.”
Roy stressed that he expects the border package to move forward, putting the ball in the court of Senate Democrats to respond.
“We’ll get a border security package through,” he said. “Republicans will demonstrate that they’re serious about it. The question is, will Democrats? I think we’ve seen the answer from this administration. I just hope that people speak out and Democratic representatives in the House and the Senate get with the program.”

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