House Republicans pass border bill limiting asylum protections

House Republicans on Thursday passed their long-promised border crackdown, voting to finish former President Trump’s border wall and severely restrict access to asylum the same day President Biden is set to lift the use of Title 42.

H.R. 2 — originally designed to be one of the first major pieces of legislation passed under the new Republican majority — was approved with a 219-213 vote, a day after wrangling over relatively minor sections of the bill briefly delayed its advancement.

Beyond building the wall, the legislation greatly increases the hiring of border agents and seeks to bar them from doing any “processing” of migrants, language Democrats said would prevent officers from doing basic tasks.

But its most significant provisions slice away at asylum rights for those fleeing persecution and other pathways to come to the U.S., measures immigration advocates described as among the most extreme provisions to be seriously considered by the House in recent years.

“This is the largest human trafficking crisis I have ever witnessed in my lifetime, and it’s time for Congress to act and restore control to this uncontrolled border,” said House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), a sponsor of the bill.