Military Age Migrants Scare Mike Johnson
Good evening! This is our 16th edition of Capitol.press. We begin tonight with “military age men” — part of a scary old invasion narrative House Speaker Mike Johnson offered at his weekly presser at the Capitol on Tuesday.
“Military-age men from across the globe, many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States, are landing in waves on our soil by the 1000s. Not by splashing ashore from a ship or parachuting from a plane, but rather by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected,” Johnson read from prepared remarks, before taking three questions.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, is still relatively inexperienced on the national political stage while leaning into what’s being dubbed “the immigration election."
Early on, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) insisted, “It’s not about immigration, it’s about securing the border.”
Dig Deeper: Ask GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill what it means to secure the border and many will reply with a topline talking point about “operational control.” Ask what they mean by “operational control” of the border and their talking points differ wildly.
Key Context: Migrant relief policies went largely unmentioned in the 118th Congress until the news broke over the weekend that relief for H1B migrants and Afghan war allies might be in the base text of the Biden Border Bill.
Hints of Migrant Relief Policy
Nothing for sure, but H1B relief provisions are credibly reported to be in the bill text, which, keep in mind, only a few Senators have seen.
Key Context: Republicans have publicly led with an enforcement-only negotiation while Senate Democrats have quietly lined up behind President Joe Biden and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass a bill combining foreign military money and domestic policy changes to legal immigration.
Mass deportations have been a subtext of the policy rhetoric surrounding “migrants-Ukraine” — a Frankenstein’s monster piece of legislation brokered so far by an 81-year-old Senate OG in the White House, and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a quirky independent from Arizona.
Sinema knows her shit on immigration and is actually from a border state. She also has the business community’s ear, which lowkey lobbies lawmakers from both political parties for migrant policy to secure their workforce needs.
Business leaders and Afghanistan warfighters will pressure Johnson (if they haven’t already) on migrants’ behalf. This is par for the course for the House Speakership. How Johnson will handle their pitch will decide the fate of H1B migrant relief in the Biden Border Bill.
— Pablo
Fun Fact
Speaker Johnson has two staffers named “Raj” on his press team.