On Thursday, Republicans in the House of Representatives pushed through a sweeping border security bill that would crack down on illegal immigration, sidestepping staunch Democratic opposition and narrowly avoiding an embarrassing insurgency within their own ranks thanks to one of their trademark interim campaign promises.

Republicans have timed the approval of the measure, which stands no chance in the Democratic-led Senate, to underline its tough stance on immigration, just as President Biden faces a potential border surge with Section 42 expiring Thursday night, rules pandemic era. allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants.

The bill will revive and codify a number of border policies championed under the Trump administration, including the construction of a border wall, the practice of “stay in Mexico” where migrant asylum seekers remain either in detention facilities or on the opposite side of the border, and an accelerated deportation of unaccompanied children. It would also require companies to verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States through a program known as E-Verify and criminalize overstayed visas for more than 10 days.

The 219-to-213 vote to pass the bill comes only after months of intra-Republican feuding, culminating in a final marathon round of bidding this week that highlighted the party’s weak hold on its fractious majority and led to a series of last-minute changes. to defeat opponents. Two Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massey of Kentucky and John Duarte of California, joined the Democrats in opposing the law, citing objections to the E-Verify requirement.

Republican divisions have threatened to confuse a debate that the party has timed to maximize political advantage, in which GOP lawmakers have denounced the Biden administration for rising waves of migration that are expected to rise further after Section 42 expires.

“Everyone knows we are days away from disaster,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, just hours after he struck a deal to keep his conference from splitting. Describing Mr. Biden’s track record as “record crossing of the border, record negligence, record chaos,” he boasted that Republicans wrote “the strongest border security bill to pass Congress in more than 100 years.”

President Biden threatened to veto the legislation.

“This bill has no chance of becoming law and is nothing short of pure political theatre,” New York Representative Jerrold Nadler, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Thursday, blaming the law for being a “controversial and duplicative mess” , which will “destroy our economy” and “destroy the asylum system”.

Democrats have warned that the bill would empower cartels by banning migrants from using a phone app to schedule immigration interviews at ports of entry, and provoke an unprecedented level of chaos at the border due to regulations penalizing many non-governmental organizations that offer assistance to migrants by restricting their access to funding for the Department of the Interior. security.

Representative Benny Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said on the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday that the bill was “brutal, inhuman, and unworkable,” adding that it was “written in an extreme Republican MAGA echo chamber.” .

But some mainstream Republicans who have opposed earlier versions of the measure have argued that it has redemptive elements that could form the basis of a bipartisan compromise in the future.

“There’s enough bones in this bag that when it’s given to the Senate, the Senate can pick it up and be able to make something,” said Rep. Tony Gonzalez, a Texas Republican. “For me, it never ended with 218 votes in the house. It was always about making something into law.”

Mr. Gonzalez was one of the first and most vocal members of his party to denounce early versions of the bill, demanding changes to the provisions that would effectively shut down the asylum system once detention centers fill up. ready to lead a devastating streak of defections that would be enough to kill their account, the response was to soften the wording to be a little less restrictive. He has since become a vocal amplifier.

“I won,” Mr. Gonzalez proudly declared this week. “When you win, you vote yes.”

But other factions in the party have threatened to withdraw their support this week, forcing the leaders to suspend hearings in the chamber on Wednesday as they attempted to twist arms and frame opponents.

A group of ultra-conservative members objected to language they argued would undermine the party’s efforts to limit asylum claims, while some larger Republicans objected to the hiring law’s demands, arguing that they would destroy the agricultural industry.

Although Mr. McCarthy scored a razor-thin victory, it demonstrated the difficulties he continues to face in maintaining his rebellious conference.

Rep. Daniel Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, drove members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus into a recent frenzy over a provision in a bill directing the administration to look into whether Mexican drug cartels should be considered foreign terrorist organizations.

He argued that the change would give more asylum seekers reason to seek protection in the United States.

On Wednesday, Republican leaders agreed to scrap the provision and replace it with language directing Congress to give a report on the matter. At the same time, the House of Representatives is expected to set up a task force to examine the issue, in which Mr. Crenshaw is expected to play a leading role.

GOP MPs, who expressed concern about the impact of the recruitment bill’s requirements on the agricultural industry, which relies heavily on undocumented migrant labor, demanded fewer concessions. Republican leaders added a non-binding “Congressional Sentiment” resolution saying that adverse effects on the agricultural workforce and food security will be taken into account before the mandate is finalized.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, the Washington Republican who led the mitigation effort for the agricultural industry, said the changes were enough to attract “almost all” members who shared his concerns.

Some senators have expressed hope that the passage of the bill will help the Senate expedite work on a broader and more comprehensive immigration bill.

“I’m less concerned about the elements of the bill passed by the Republicans in the House of Representatives and more concerned about them passing the bill to us,” Sen. Kirsten Sinema, an Arizona Independent, told reporters Thursday.

Ms. Cinema, who worked with Senator Tom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, to draft legislation relating to both border security and legal immigration, argued that House action could help the Senate “work in a bipartisan, bicameral manner to shape the final plastic bag”.