Featured Issue: Impact of the 2025 Congressional Budget Process on Immigration

AILA calls upon its members to contact Congress to oppose the budget reconciliation bill that includes outrageous fee hikes and funds turbocharged mass deportations with no due process. TAKE ACTION NOW.

In late April, the House began consideration of the budget reconciliation bill that started in the committees with the expectation that the bill could proceed to a full House vote by the end of May. In their parts of the bill, the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Committee included $150 billion for enforcement activities and major increases in immigration fees. In a statement, AILA called on Congress to reject the House bill “unless it imposes strict oversight” on the spending and noted that the “crushing new fees” will “effectively shut[] out many families businesses, and asylum seekers from lawful pathways. The Council provided this analysis.

If the GOP-led Congress is able to pass the budget reconciliation bill, it will give the President the opportunity to enact his tax and debt agenda – and to appropriate more money on border security and immigration enforcement – outside of the annual appropriations process. Reconciliation is a special process that only requires a simple majority to pass in the Senate (most bills require 60 votes to pass the Senate).

Earlier this year, the House adopted the Senate’s budget resolution bill on a near-party line vote of 216-214, thus enabling the GOP to use the budget reconciliation process.

Under the resolution, congressional appropriations committees are now allowed to boost spending enormously on mass deportations and the border—$175 billion House over the next 10 fiscal years.

In addition to funding, there is the risk that harmful immigration policies could be passed during budget reconciliation because it requires only a simple majority. These policies could include expanding the public charge rule, significant restrictions on asylum, rethinking the refugee admissions process, and overhauling the legal immigration system.

The main limitation on what may be included in a reconciliation bill is the Byrd rule, which strikes policy matters from the bill when their passage would only affect the budget incidentally.

In 2021, the Senate Parliamentarian, who is generally the final word on Senate rules, decided that immigration provisions proposed by the Democratic majority violated this rule. AILA supported many of these proposals which included making work permits available for long-residing immigrants who are undocumented, reducing visa backlogs, and making unused visas accessible. The current Congress is expected to introduce immigration proposals that align with the President’s immigration agenda, hoping they will not be stricken from the final bill.

If proponents of the bill are able to avoid an objection under the Byrd rule (and other rules), there is a major risk that the Senate and House will pass a bill that advances the administration’s mass deportation agenda.

Note that the budget reconciliation process is distinct from the annual appropriations cycle.  When Congress cannot pass new appropriations bills, it extends the current spending bills by passing a short-term “continuing resolution” to avoid a government shutdown. For more information read AILA’s practice alert on what happens if the government shuts down.