House Republicans are seeking to codify a Trump-era immigration policy that requires asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico until their court dates in the United States.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), a freshman Republican, will introduce the REMAIN in Mexico Act of 2025 on Thursday, directing the secretary of homeland security to implement President-elect Donald Trump’s first-term Migrant Protection Protocols border policy, according to legislative text obtained by the Washington Examiner.
President Joe Biden suspended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy shortly after he took office in 2021, but the termination of the program was embroiled in legal battles after Texas and Missouri argued the Biden administration violated the law by ending the program.
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The Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Biden administration, overturning a lower court’s decision that favored the two Republican-led states.
Although it is unclear when the legislation will be voted on, House Republicans have pledged to crack down on illegal immigration now that they have unified control of Washington. The bill has 65 co-sponsors to date, including Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Riley Moore (R-WV), Chip Roy (R-TX), and Andy Harris (R-MD).
“Over 60 of my Republican colleagues cosponsored my REMAIN in Mexico Act. One thing is clear: Republicans are united behind the mandate that the American people gave us to close Biden’s open borders,” Gill said in an exclusive statement to the Washington Examiner. “My No. 1 priority in Congress is securing our southern border and deporting as many illegal aliens as possible, and I stand by President Trump as he works to make American communities safer and more prosperous.”
The bill, whose full title is the Return Excessive Migrants and Asylees to International Neighbors in Mexico Act of 2025, would direct the Department of Homeland Security to restore the 2019 Migrant Protection Protocols.
House Republicans impeached the current homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, over his handling of the border as record numbers of migrants crossed into the U.S. illegally. Mayorkas’s impeachment was the first time such a step had been taken against a Cabinet member in nearly 150 years.
For his second term, Trump has tapped Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) to lead the agency.
House Republicans passed the Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, on Tuesday. The bill, now under consideration in the Senate, would allow federal authorities to detain illegal immigrants who have committed theft-related crimes and give states the ability to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to their citizens because of illegal immigration.
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Trump has vowed to implement mass deportations and reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy during his second term. The president-elect has also expressed a desire to put an end to birthright citizenship and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected members of drug cartels and criminal gangs as a part of his crackdown on illegal immigration.
Gill’s legislation will be the first bill he has introduced since becoming a member of the House. The bill is supported by the Immigration Accountability Project, Numbers USA, Heritage Action, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
