News

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and nearly 50 Members of Congress today introduced bipartisan legislation to help the United States boost job creation, grow our economy, and remain globally competitive by increasing green cards for talented foreign graduates of American universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  The STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429) eliminates the diversity visa lottery and reallocates up to 55,000 green cards a year to the top foreign graduates of U.S.

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today released a draft proposal to help the United States boost job creation, grow our economy, and remain globally competitive by increasing green cards for talented foreign graduates of American universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.   This draft legislation eliminates the diversity visa lottery and reallocates up to 55,000 green cards a year to the top foreign graduates of U.S.

Washington, D.C. - The House of Representatives today passed a bill to reauthorize E-Verify for three years.  This successful, web-based program quickly identifies illegal immigrants working in the U.S. and protects jobs for legal workers.  The bill, S. 3245, also reauthorizes the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot, the Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver, and the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Programs for three years.  The bill passed by a vote of 412-3 and now heads to the President’s desk for signature. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) praised today’s vote. 

Washington, D.C. - The House of Representatives today voted to reauthorize an important national security law that allows intelligence officials to more quickly and effectively monitor the communications of foreign terrorists and spies operating overseas. H.R. 5949 extends the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 for five years. The bill passed by a vote of 301-118.

Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) managed the debate on the House floor and urged his colleagues to reauthorize the FISA Amendments Act to keep America safe. 

Washington, D.C. - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it has received 72,000 applications from illegal immigrants seeking deferred action and work authorization, and that it has approved some of them in just three weeks since the program began.  On August 15, DHS began accepting applications for its amnesty program that stops the deportation of certain illegal immigrants and grants them work permits.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) criticized the approval of these amnesty applications in the statement below.

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) today sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting that the agency not retaliate against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for suing the Administration over its amnesty program.  Yesterday, several ICE agents filed a lawsuit in Texas, which argues that the Obama administration’s amnesty program commands ICE officers to violate federal law and their oaths to uphold and support federal law.

Washington, D.C. - The House Judiciary Committee has obtained internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents, which show that the Obama administration is cooking the books to achieve their so-called ‘record’ deportation numbers for illegal immigrants and that removals are actually significantly down - not up - from 2009.

Washington, D.C. - Several U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents today filed a lawsuit in Texas against the Obama administration’s amnesty program.  On June 15, 2012, Obama administration officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memo instructing ICE officers to stop placing certain illegal immigrants into removal proceedings and instead take actions that encourage these illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. and apply for work permits.