Tuesday Immigration Bulletin: McCarthy Promises Border Bill

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to ascend to the House Speakership if Republicans win back the lower chamber of Congress in tonight’s midterm election.

The California Republican is making no bones about what his first priority would be as House Speaker: “The first thing you’ll see is a bill to control the border first,” said McCarthy in an interview with CNN reporter Melanie Zanona on Sunday.

Zanona asked McCarthy specifically what his plan was to secure the U.S. Mexico border. McCarthy’s reply was highly unspecific, invoking drug cartels and fentanyl from China. You can watch the segment here.

• NOTE: Reason editor Fiona Harrigan wrote an important story last month showing that most fentanyl seizures by federal law enforcement agents have been at legal points of entry, not from illegal border crossings.

If Republicans win the House, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is expected to chair the House Judiciary committee, which shares direct jurisdiction over immigration policy with the Homeland Security committee, where Ranking Member John Katko (R-NY) is retiring.

Katko’s retirement leaves the Homeland Security Committee chair under House GOP rule an open question, but the Committee is bound to attract hawkish Republicans looking to score political points by blaming immigrants for everything.

Katko leaves behind an immigration bill that has 68 GOP cosponsors since he first introduced it last August. The Border Security for America Act could provide insights into what specifically Republicans are going to pursue if they win the House, Senate, or both.

The topline in Katko’s bill is, of course, a border wall.

However ineffective border walls have been so far, Republicans have been obsessed with building one along the U.S. - Mexico border since Donald Trump first chanted “build the wall”.

The Katko bill also increases Border Patrol’s size and capacity while authorizing grants for state and local authorities to assist on certain agency operations.

Notably asylum reforms go unmentioned in the Katko bill, but you can expect it to be a GOP talking point whether or not the party is in power.

“Ending asylum as we know it” is how one House GOP aide described to me the proposals circulating in policy circles on Capitol Hill.

On the campaign trail, Republicans have made perfectly clear that, if they win, immigration enforcement will be their top legislative priority … but the details remain elusive on how McCarthy would steer that legislative ship as House Speaker. I’ll keep watching this space…

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