Some Republicans push more visas despite hard line on immigration

Source: Roll Call

Posted July 28, 2025 at 12:18pm


Even as the Trump administration pursues a hardline approach to enforcing immigration law, some congressional Republicans acknowledge the need to expand immigration opportunities for workers in specialized sectors such as agriculture.

As industries that depend on temporary workers like agriculture and tourism say they need greater latitude to hire immigrant workers to address labor shortages, some GOP lawmakers have sought to qualify their party’s tough-on-immigration approach with an exception to employ noncitizens in those sectors legally.

That became apparent last month during the House Appropriations Committee’s markup of the fiscal 2026 Homeland Security spending bill. Republicans adopted an en banc amendment that would expand opportunities for employers to hire immigrants for certain temporary work, including the agricultural, tourism and circus industries. The amendment, adopted by voice vote, was jointly introduced by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., with bipartisan support from Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, acknowledged the need to hire immigrants in some sectors as a component of immigration reform. “How amazing would it be if this administration led an immigration reform,” Amodei said. “Nobody’s not open to facts, so tell me those facts, whether it’s agriculture, whether it’s hospitality industry, whether it’s construction, whether it’s, you name it,” Amodei said. “And so, it’s like, let’s have a factual conversation now.”

Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/07/28/some-republicans-push-more-visas-despite-hard-line-on-immigration/

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Their business constituents must be giving them hell that is severe enough to smack some of them out of their hypnotized stupor.

The whole hospitality industry is being devastated by Stephen Miller's "3000 per day" round-up quota (let alone the obvious farm industry and construction industry). The irony here is that their "1950s mentality" had them thinking they were going to create some "black jobs" by clearing out the current workers in those hotels, many of whom are now immigrants from Latin America (at one time way back in the past, the Irish served that role), where many of the hotel managers are black. I remember in college knowing a bunch of folks who were majoring in "HRTA" (Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Administration" ).