House GOP set to approve border security proposal as Title 42 ends

House Republicans are set to pass their border security proposal Thursday, a herculean achievement after the bill faced myriad objections from lawmakers over the past several months.

The 213-page bill packages proposals approved by the Judiciary, Homeland and Foreign Affairs committees that underwent significant changes to appease several blocs of the conservative conference, most notably Hispanic Republicans representing border towns and lawmakers representing Hispanic-majority districts. It had been unclear even hours ago whether Republicans had the votes to pass the legislation as several factions, particularly the conservative House Freedom Caucus, expressed objections to certain policies.

House Republicans timed the bill’s passage to coincide with the rollback of a Trump-era policy that allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use the coronavirus pandemic public health emergency as the basis to quickly deport undocumented migrants trying to enter the United States through the southern border. The Title 42 policy, as it is often known, ends Thursday, and agents are preparing for an influx of migrants following weeks of an unprecedented surge that has already strained Border Patrol stations and holding facilities.