In discussions with reporters on Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, explicitly pushed back on the idea of even trying to pursue what he termed “comprehensive” immigration reform. Is he waiting for Trump and assuming in the meantime the ex-president will win again?
“It’s a complex issue. I don’t think now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform, because we know how complicated that is,” Johnson told journalists. These comments came from the same guy who at the same press conference said he’d refuse to even substantively discuss potential aid for Ukraine with the president without progress on the border. In other words, the idea that Republicans want problems but not a solution on the border to help with their campaigning continues to gain worrisome credence.
Johnson distinguished what he termed “comprehensive” reform in immigration from a sweeping legislative package dealing with immigration and the border previously passed by Republicans in the House that includes, among other provisions, a restart to forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in the United States. Done earlier under Trump’s administration, the approach forces asylum-seekers into potentially dangerous conditions while pursuing protections — those associated with asylum — that are outlined in law.
Johnson also rebuffed a series of claimed provisions to a border deal in the Senate in a recent post on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter. As claimed in the Fox News broadcast to which he was responding, the deal was set — if enacted — to, among other moves, increase the yearly allocation of green cards that allow non-citizens to live and work in the United States by 50,000. The claimed proposal also included restrictions on parole for individuals who enter the United States between ports of entry, meaning opportunities to await further proceedings out of custody inside the United States would be further limited for persons who manage to more surreptitiously enter the country. Johnson was succinct: “Absolutely not.”
