By Mark Swanson | Friday, December 12, 2025, 7:48 PM EST
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has doubled down on legislation he introduced last month that would pause all immigration—including legal entries—until the system is reset and key security benchmarks are met.
Roy said the scale of immigration has reached a breaking point, noting that more than 51 million foreign-born individuals now make up roughly 16% of the U.S. population. He introduced the PAUSE Act, “Pausing All Admissions Until Security Ensured,” on November 20, a proposal to freeze all immigration to the U.S., with limited exceptions for temporary tourist visas.
“And so what you’ve got to do is pause because we have 51.5 million foreign-born people in the United States—16% of the population—the highest percentage we’ve had since the early 1900s,” Roy said Friday. He added, “We paused in 1920, and we had about 40 years where we kind of reclaimed our sovereignty as people assimilated.”
Roy’s bill would enact these changes:
— End the practice of automatic citizenship
— End chain migration
— End the H-1B Program
— Ensure immigrant assimilation
— Deny entry to Shariah adherents
— Deny entry to Chinese Communist Party members
— Deny entry to terrorists
“The problem isn’t just illegal immigration; it’s also legal immigration. While the Biden administration opened our borders and allowed millions to flood into our country, they also rubber-stamped millions more arriving through convoluted legal schemes, completely overwhelming the system,” Roy said in a statement last month. He said Friday, “We should pause and then we should reset all of those issues.”
Roy’s plan goes beyond what the Trump administration is pushing. President Donald Trump recently froze immigration from countries already subject to U.S. travel restrictions, citing national security and vetting concerns. The administration is also moving to expand the travel ban to more than 30 countries, targeting nations with weak identity verification or terrorism risks.
The PAUSE Act is supported by the Immigration Accountability Project, Citizens for Renewing America, and the National Immigration Center for Enforcement.
