Durbin Statement On Successfully Removing Some Harmful Immigration Provisions From Republincans' Reconciliation Bill
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats successfully removed several harmful Judiciary immigration provisions from Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including imposing a punitive fee on asylum seekers fleeing persecution, imposing a fee on litigants in immigration court simply for seeking a continuance, which would undermine access to justice and due process, and more:
“Senate Democrats succeeded in removing some of the most punitive and extreme immigration provisions from the Judiciary Committee title. However, Republicans’ budget bill still includes many problematic changes in immigration law that will turbocharge the Trump Administration’s attacks on due process and mass deportation campaign against immigrant families who pose no threat to our country.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats successfully removed the following immigration-related provisions from the Judiciary title:
- Asylum Fee. This section imposes a novel, mandatory minimum $1,000 fee for anyone applying for asylum, without the option for waiver. (Section 102)
- Fee for Continuances Granted in Immigration Court Proceedings. This section imposes a mandatory minimum $100 fee to request a continuance in immigration court – hampering due process rights, without the option for waiver. (Section 110)
- Diversity Immigrant Visa Fees. This section requires the Department of Homeland Security to impose a mandatory minimum $250 fee to apply for the diversity visa lottery and a mandatory minimum $400 fee to process diversity visa applications (in addition to the current $330 fee administered by the Department of State). (Section 114)
- Fee for Sponsors of Unaccompanied Alien Children Who Fail to Appear in Immigration Court. This section imposes a mandatory minimum $5,000 bond to sponsor an unaccompanied child, even on parents and relatives of that child, to be returned if the child does not receive an in absentia removal order. (Section 119)
- Appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security – Expedited Removal of Criminal Noncitizens. This language expands expedited removal procedures to noncitizens merely arrested for a crime, regardless of how long they have been in the U.S. or their status. (language in Section 151(9))
Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act will raise prices and slash Medicaid and Medicare coverage for working Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, Republicans’ reconciliation bill will force 16 million Americans to lose their health insurance. And the bill will cost $4.2 trillion over the next decade.
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