Magazine, Immigration, American Immigration Council
While the pundits digest the lessons to be learned from the 2018 midterm elections, one takeaway is immediately clear: many Americans want Congress to resume its critical role of checks and balances on the Trump administration and its overzealous immigration agenda.
Democrats’ control of the House of Representatives offers significant opportunity for the 116th Congress to hold the administration accountable for altering the immigration landscape.
The Democratic majority can call oversight hearings requiring government officials to testify under oath on a wide range of issues. This could include family separation, the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations, rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, record-high use of immigration detention, or turning asylum seekers away at the border.
Likewise, the House could probe other immigration issues, such as naturalization backlogs, increased denial rates of employment-based petitions, and intrusive vetting of benefits applicants that causes extensive delays. We could also see hearings on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to change regulations, such as expanding the detention of families and children and penalizing immigrants for their lawful use of public benefits (called the “public charge” rule).
