Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have scheduled a Wednesday meeting to craft sweeping changes to federal immigration laws — a key component of President Trump’s domestic agenda that GOP leaders are racing to enact before summer’s end.
The 116-page bill, released Monday by the Judiciary Committee, features a new fee structure for immigrants seeking asylum and other avenues to legal status as part of the Republicans’ broader effort to crack down on waves of migration, largely from Central and South America.
Under the proposal, for instance, the application fee for those seeking asylum — a process that’s currently free — would jump to a minimum of $1,000. Proponents of the change argue that it would weed out those with legitimate claims to asylum from those simply seeking a free ticket into the United States. But such fees have been denounced by Democrats and human rights advocates, who say the charges are exorbitant and will have deadly consequences by preventing people fleeing violence in their own countries from securing safety in the U.S.
The immigration charges are part of the Republicans’ sweeping effort to adopt Trump’s domestic policy wishlist in the first year of his second term. That agenda features wide-ranging tax cuts, an expansion of energy production and sweeping reductions in spending on federal programs.
On the campaign trail, Trump had broadly denounced immigrants as a source of crime and economic instability for working-class Americans. He promised a crackdown on immigration, making the Judiciary bill a key component of the “one big beautiful bill” the president wants to adopt this year.
Separately, the Judiciary Committee’s proposal would shut down the antitrust enforcement arm of the Federal Trade Commission and transfer those powers and resources under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.
After various committees of jurisdiction mark up the pieces of Trump’s agenda, GOP leaders will attempt to pass the proposals as a single package moving on an obscure procedural track, known as reconciliation, that will allow Republicans to pass the bill with a simple majority in the Senate, sidestepping the Democrats’ filibuster powers.
The Judiciary Committee’s markup is scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT.
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