How 46 At-Risk U.S. House Incumbents Voted on Immigration Issues

Issue 1: Approving Lawful Permanent Residence for ‘Dreamers
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Voting 228 for and 197 against, the House on March 18, 2021, passed a Democratic bill (HR 6) that would enable more than two million so-called “Dreamers” to apply for lawful permanent residence in the United States and qualify for work permits if they arrived in the country before their 19th birthday and before Jan. 1, 2021. Dreamers is the name given to undocumented immigrants who were brought illegally to the United States as children and live with constant fear of deportation to countries where they have never lived. To qualify for the bill’s lengthy path to citizenship and protection against deportation, they would have to have clean law-enforcement records and meet certain educational and civic standards, among other requirements. The bill also would provide citizenship opportunities and protections against deportation to hundreds of thousands of undocumented aliens allowed to live in the United States for humanitarian reasons under the “deferred enforced departure status” and “temporary protected status” programs. Undocumented children of lawfully admitted temporary farm workers also would be eligible to pursue lawful permanent residence under the bill.

Floor Debate, Pro & Con

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it died at the close of the 117th Congress.

Issue 2: Passing Republican Immigration Bill

By a vote of 219 for and 213 against, the House on May 11, 2023, passed a Republican bill (HR 2) that would reinstate Trump-era measures for securing the southwestern border while placing new restraints on undocumented immigrants using the asylum process to obtain lawful permanent residence in the United States. Projected to add $6.1 billion to deficits over 10 years, the bill would toughen immigration enforcement while weakening or eliminating humanitarian programs put in place by the Biden administration. The bill would:

• Require construction of at least 900 miles of wall on the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border at a cost of $25 million per mile.
• Establish criminal penalties for those who overstay their visas for at least 10 days.
• Prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from contracting with nongovernmental and religious organizations to transport, shelter or feed undocumented immigrants.
• Scale back a DHS program known as “humanitarian parole” that grants temporary U.S. residence to immigrants from countries including Ukraine.
• Require employers, including those in agribusiness, to use the federal E-Verify website to determine the legal status of workers.
• Expand the number of Customs and Border Protection agents from 19,000 to 22,000 and begin polygraph testing of CBP job applicants.
• Distribute $110 million annually to state, local and tribal law enforcement.
• Expand manned surveillance flights, require 24-hour drone surveillance of the U.S.-Mexico border and require eradication of invasive vegetation along the Rio Grande River. 

The bill also would prohibit the transfer of migrant families to U.S. communities while they await hearings in immigration court, instead requiring detention near the border. The bill establishes an accelerated process for returning unaccompanied children to their native country unless that would expose them to sex trafficking, and it would end federal funding of attorneys to represent these children in immigration proceedings.

The bill would deny asylum eligibility to those who fail to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at an official point of entry or who voluntarily lived in a third country for at least one year without suffering persecution or torture. The Department of Homeland Security could deny U.S. entry to asylum seekers if necessary for “operational control” of the border. The bill would prohibit gang members and felons from applying for asylum, assess a $50 fee on asylum applications and limit the use of an app for scheduling court hearings on asylum claims.

Floor Debate, Pro & Con

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was shelved in committee.

Issue 3: Deporting Lawful Permanent Residents Who Assault Police

Voting 255 for and 175 against, the House on May 17, 2023, passed a Republican bill (HR 2494) that would require deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act of any noncitizens, including lawful U.S. residents holding green cards, who have been convicted of a serious or minor assault on a local, state or federal police officer performing their official duties. This goes beyond current law requiring deportation of undocumented immigrants convicted of serious assaults on law enforcement.

Floor Debate, Pro & Con

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was shelved in committee.

Issue 4: Denying School Shelter to Undocumented Immigrants

Voting 222 for and 201 against, the House on July 19, 2023, passed a Republican bill (HR 3941) that would deny federal education funds to any public K-12 school or institution of higher education that provides shelter on a temporary basis to undocumented immigrants including those applying for asylum in the United States in accordance with federal law.

Floor Debate, Pro & Con

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was shelved in committee.

Issue 5: Failing to Impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas


Voting 214 for and 216 against, the House on Feb. 6, 2024, defeated a Republican resolution (H Res 863) to approve two articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for having “willfully and systemically refused to comply with federal immigration laws” and failing “to control the [southwest] border to the detriment of national security….” The measure was supported by 214 Republicans and opposed by four Republicans and the entire Democratic caucus of 212 members. One member was absent. The House had four vacant seats at the time of the vote.

The articles charged with Mayorkas with violating several provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, mainly by administering a “catch and release” policy that sends aliens to communities throughout the United States while they await a ruling on their petition for asylum, instead of detaining them at the U.S.-Mexico border. The DHS says the policy is compelled by shortages of detention facilities at the border and immigration judges to hear asylum cases. The impeachment bid also was based on Mayorkas’s policy of granting humanitarian parole collectively to groups of undocumented aliens rather than on a case-by-case basis as his critics say the law requires.

Seven days later, the House reversed itself and voted, 214 for and 213 against, to approve articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. The vote was on agreeing to H Res 863 and sending the measure to the Senate.

Floor Debate, Pro & Con

A yes vote was to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas.