Rep. Roy Urges Speaker Johnson for Key Reforms in Final Budget Reconciliation Package

"Dear Speaker Johnson,

The American people sent us to Washington with a clear mandate to cut reckless spending, grow the economy, and perhaps most importantly, secure our nation’s border. While many budget priorities were passed in the House Judiciary Committee reconciliation bill to achieve this outcome, including revenue-raising fees to fund President Trump’s border security and interior enforcement initiatives, it is imperative that the final version we send to the President’s desk include the following:

Proper Article III Resource Allocation. We must ensure judicial resources are prudently allocated. The House Judiciary Committee’s reconciliation bill created a fund to hire more immigration judges and support staff to decrease the growing 3.6 million Immigration Court case backlog. An estimated 200 immigration judges and over 1,000 support staff are expected to be hired under the fund to help close these cases. With this dedicated funding to adjudicate immigration claims and to ensure the proper allocation of Article III resources, we must include language that states any alien who is not a U.S. Citizen or lawful permanent resident should not be eligible for Article III court standing to challenge the application or enforcement of our immigration laws.

Provisions to Make the New Immigration Judges and Staff Temporary. Increasing the number of immigration judges and support staff will aid the Trump Administration’s goal of adjudicating more cases, thereby likely removing more illegal aliens. However, as the nation witnessed with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), millions of dollars in salaries and benefits go into maintaining a large federal workforce. Immigration judges can serve without term limits provided the Attorney General does not remove them. This status potentially makes them and their support staff long-term federal employees who will require more taxpayer dollars to keep them employed beyond the scope of their initial duties. Like special prosecutors, there should be a fixed term imposed on prospective new personnel established in this fund.

Imposition of Fees on Sanctuary Jurisdictions that Do Not Comply with Immigration Detainers. The Trump administration’s interior enforcement prioritization of removing illegal aliens, including dangerous actors, has resulted in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issuing tens of thousands of detainers. Unfortunately, many states and localities limit communication or outright prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including honoring ICE detainers. While the House Judiciary Committee’s reconciliation package does levy fees on certain aliens who are ordered removed in absentia, aliens who fail to appear for an Immigration Court date consume taxpayer-funded personnel and resources to locate and detain them. We should expand this and place a $1,000 fee on any state or locality that fails to comply with a single ICE detainer.

Dedicated Funding for Election Integrity. The House of Representatives has passed the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) on the floor twice, affirming that only U.S. citizens should vote in federal elections. To that end, the final reconciliation bill should create a fund to establish an “Election Integrity Office” at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to carry out the duties of President Trump’s Executive Order 14248, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.”

Reimbursement to Texas for Border Security Efforts. Ensuring that the state of Texas, as well as any other deserving state, is paid back for its efforts to secure the border in the absence of the Biden administration for four years must be a top priority. Governor Abbott has provided an accounting of the costs Texas’s taxpayers incurred for border efforts performed from 2022-2025, equating to $11.1 billion. Texas constituents footed the bill because the federal government failed in its most basic responsibility to secure its borders. There must be a reimbursement fund established for Texas and other qualifying states in the final reconciliation bill. While many meritorious border-related provisions should be included in reconciliation, paying Texas back must be one of them and should be paid for through the fees collected in the final reconciliation package.

I look forward to ensuring these critical enforcement initiatives are included in the final reconciliation package."

Read full letter below.