FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., on Friday introduced a broad immigration package that includes measures to "shut down the border" and reverse key Biden-era policies that Republicans blame for the historic crisis at the southern border.
The package introduces or reintroduces five bills that would limit entries into the U.S., restore Trump policies that Republicans have credited for slowing illegal immigration and limit the effects of immigration on the U.S.
The "Remain in Mexico Act" would restore the Trump-era policy of the same name that kept migrants in Mexico as they waited for their asylum hearings rather than being released into the U.S.
Supporters of the program said it stopped a key pull factor drawing migrants to the border but was shut down by the Biden administration, which called it ineffective and inhumane.
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Another bill in the package would make it a federal crime to flee from law enforcement at checkpoints, changing current law that only makes it illegal to do so in a vehicle at high speed.
Meanwhile, the American Worker Protection Act is focused on legal immigration and would codify a Trump-era rule regarding H-1B visas, a controversial guest worker program used predominantly by Big Tech.
The rule, an effort to prevent American workers from being replaced by cheaper foreign competitors, would have changed the methodology for the wage level that must be met by those seeking to bring in foreign workers instead of the current lottery system. That rule was scrapped by the Biden administration.
Rosendale’s Mass Immigration Reduction Act would also create a moratorium on most immigration for five years, and it would only be lifted once the number of illegal crossings is under 10,000 a year. In fiscal 2023, there were more than 2.4 million such crossings. A version of that bill was first introduced in the early 2000s.
Finally, the Count Only Citizens Act would require the Census Bureau to include a citizenship and legal presence question in the census so that illegal immigrants are not counted for the purposes of congressional representation. President Trump had pushed for a similar move, but it was unsuccessful.
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"Biden is destroying our country with his open border policies," Rosendale said in a statement. "My immigration bills will set the proper mechanisms in place to shut down the border, give DHS the tools to pursue criminals evading border checkpoints, encourage American companies to hire American employees, protect taxpayer dollars by only counting citizens in the census and require those waiting on an immigration hearing to wait in Mexico.
"This package puts into statute the many successful policies that President Trump implemented and will not only tackle the crisis head on, but it will also reverse the reckless, crime-encouraging, open-border policies of the Biden administration."
The package is the latest effort by Republicans to tackle the ongoing crisis at the southern border. Republicans have blamed the Biden administration for rolling back Trump-era policies and expanding releases into the U.S. interior.
The administration says it is dealing with a Hemisphere-wide crisis and needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform — including greater legal immigration and an amnesty for illegal immigrants — from Congress.
But Republicans instead have eyed more restrictions on asylum and releases as part of any supplemental funding deal and, as Rosendale’s bill package shows, there is an appetite among some members for placing some restrictions on legal immigration as well.
