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House Passes DHS Funding Bill after Stripping Most Guest Worker Provisions

Foreign Guest Worker Visas

FAIR Take | July 2024

Last week, the House passed legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Fiscal Year 2025. Final passage of the bill, H.R. 8752, followed adoption of a FAIR-supported amendment to remove two damaging guest worker provisions that would have dramatically expanded the H-2A and H-2B guest worker programs. The bill passed 212-203, with 207 Republicans and 5 Democrats supporting.

The provisions expanding the H-2A and H-2B programs represent changes big business has been pushing for years. These measures would have: (1) transformed the H-2A program from a seasonal program to a year-round program for FY 2025; and (2) required that the DHS Secretary, upon determining that the needs of American businesses cannot be met with existing workers in the U.S. in FY 2025, increase the H-2B numerical cap by the highest number of H-2B nonimmigrants who were “returning workers” in any fiscal year where they were exempt from numerical limitation. While these changes were limited to FY 2025 only, big business hopes that if it can convince Congress to incrementally expand the H-2A and H-2B programs, over time, these expansions will become permanent.

The amendment to eliminate the H-2A and H-2B language was not perfect, however. It stripped the provisions detailed above, but at the same time granted the DHS Secretary discretionary authority to increase the H-2B visa cap after determining the needs of American businesses cannot be satisfied with American workers. This most recent push for more foreign workers comes as nearly 10 million illegal aliens have crossed our borders since President Biden took office, most of whom are being released into the country and receiving work permits.

Aside from the foreign worker provisions, the DHS funding bill makes important strides toward securing our borders and rolling back the Biden Administration’s failed policies. Some of the measures that FAIR supports in the House bill include:

  • $600 million for border wall construction;
  • Requiring illegal aliens on the non-detained docket to be enrolled in Alternatives to Detention (ATD), with mandatory GPS monitoring, for the duration of their immigration proceedings;
  • Requiring that the average daily population at all detention facilities be maintained at full capacity;
  • Prohibiting funds for providing ID cards for illegal aliens;
  • Eliminating the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, saving taxpayers $28.6 million from the FY 2024 enacted level;
  • Defunding the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP), used to provide social services to illegal aliens, saving taxpayers $20 million;
  • Providing $225.3 million for the DHS Office of Inspector General to conduct oversight, $5.2 million above the FY 2024 enacted level;
  • Prohibiting the use of the CBP One mobile application for paroling illegal aliens into the country; and
  • Cutting all funding for the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) used to facilitate illegal immigration by supporting nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and sanctuary jurisdictions, $650 million below the FY 2024 enacted level.

Several other key amendments to the DHS bill did not pass. Most notably, two amendments to rein in the Biden Administration’s abuse of parole failed. The first, offered by Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas) would have prevented any funds from being used for the administration’s unlawful parole-in-place amnesty program. That amendment failed by a vote of 193-216, with all Democrats and 14 Republicans opposing. The second, from Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) would have prohibited funds from going towards the administration’s unlawful categorical parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. That amendment failed 193-218, with all Democrats and 13 Republicans opposing.

In the coming weeks and months, Congress will continue to debate funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Whether that spending is in the form of a full-year appropriations package or a short-term bill, FAIR will continue to fight for American workers and advocate that any spending agreement include real policy reforms to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws.