President Joe Biden would veto a House GOP bill that aims to restrict asylum, build more border wall, and cut a program that allows migrants a chance to stay in the U.S. lawfully for two years, the White House said in a statement Monday.
The statement says:
While we welcome Congress' engagement on meaningful steps to address immigration and the challenges at the border, this bill would make things worse, not better. Because this bill does very little to actually increase border security while doing a great deal to trample on the
Nation's core values and international obligations, it should be rejected.
If the President were presented with H.R. 2, he would veto it.
Republicans are looking to capitalize on the spotlight as immigration surges into the national news this week with the ending of COVID-19 restrictions that allowed border authorities to quickly return many migrants who crossed the border illegally. They aim to vote on their Secure the Border Act Thursday — the same day the emergency powers expire. Officials have already seen a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and are bracing for more.
The legislation represents the GOP’s first major immigration policy proposal under Biden. The 213-page bill resurrects a slew of former President Donald Trump’s policies, such as building barriers along hundreds of miles of border country, and in some cases, pushes beyond the former president’s aggressive policies.
It stands little chance of passing the Democrat-held Senate and faces strong headwinds from some Republicans representing agricultural areas over requirements that businesses verify employees' legal immigration status.
The bill would cut the program that allows U.S. officials to quickly turn away migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua.
The Biden administration has long argued Congress needs to act on the border in order to fix major problems that have led to record numbers of people illegally crossing. But this isn't the way to do it, in the view of the White House.
Strict new rules about to go into effect this week limit the number of people who can claim asylum at the border and instead encourage migrants to skip the dangerous and deadly journey north and apply for asylum through a new app, or at regional hubs opening in Guatemala and Colombia.
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