How did Senator Burr's votes on immigration compare to other Republican senators during 2021–2025?
Executive summary
Sen. Richard Burr’s record on immigration during 2021–2025 shows a pattern of sponsoring and supporting tougher, enforcement-focused measures while opposing broad legalization efforts; his public materials and bill sponsorships in the 117th Congress emphasize stopping taxpayer-funded benefits for unauthorized immigrants and tightening enforcement (Congress.gov shows S.3300 and related bills introduced by Burr) [1]. Comparative roll-call detail for every Republican senator across 2021–2025 is not available in the supplied sources; available reporting notes that many Senate Republicans positioned themselves to press for stricter border measures and to defer certain actions until 2025 (Brookings) and that Republican unity helped block bipartisan compromises in 2024 [2] [3].
1. Burr’s posture: enforcement-first, legislatively active
Burr’s public and legislative footprint in the 117th Congress centers on bills designed to limit federal expenditures for unauthorized immigrants and to increase enforcement; Congress.gov lists Burr as sponsor of measures such as S.3300 “Protect American Taxpayer Dollars from Illegal Immigration Act” and related proposals introduced in late 2021 and 2022 [1]. His Senate web pages and campaign materials also foreground enforcement and border-security themes [4] [5]. Interest-group tallies sympathetic to lower-immigration views gave him positive but modest marks for actions to reduce illegal immigration and workplace presence (NumbersUSA scoring described Burr taking “weak positive action” on border reduction and “positive action” on reducing illegal jobs/presence) [6].
2. How Burr compared to the broader GOP posture in 2021–2025
National analyses in this period show many Senate Republicans coalesced around tougher border measures and skepticism of the bipartisan 2024 Senate compromise; Brookings reported that “many Republicans are prepared to wait until 2025 to address border security,” a posture that aligned with more enforcement-oriented messaging advanced by Burr [2]. PBS and Roll Call coverage of 2024–2025 immigration maneuvers described Republicans either vowing to block the bipartisan Senate compromise or advancing GOP-backed proposals that emphasize criminal penalties and state enforcement options — positions consistent with Burr’s enforcement emphasis [3] [7].
3. Votes and procedural behavior: limits of available roll‑call evidence
The supply of specific roll-call votes for Burr on every immigration-related measure across 2021–2025 is incomplete in the provided materials. The U.S. Senate roll-call archives and the Senate vote pages exist as sources of formal votes [8] [9], but the results and Burr’s individual roll-call positions on major 2023–2025 immigration measures are not reproduced in the search results provided here. Therefore, a precise tabulation comparing Burr’s yes/no votes to each Republican senator cannot be compiled from the current reporting: available sources do not mention a complete roll‑call comparison for 2021–2025 [8] [9].
4. Legislative influence vs. party unity: where Burr fit in
Burr was a Republican senator who, per background profiles, had a reputation as a reliable GOP vote in earlier years and remained active in sponsoring immigration-related bills (Ballotpedia and tracking profiles describe his long Senate tenure and voting tendencies) [10] [11]. Yet broader reporting shows Republicans as a group were divided between accepting a bipartisan Senate compromise (which some GOP senators supported) and insisting on stricter House-style measures; mainstream coverage of the 2024 Senate proposal described many Republicans vowing to block the bipartisan bill or waiting for 2025 developments, which aligns with an enforcement-first faction Burr’s sponsorship activity represents [3] [2].
5. Competing perspectives and political context
Supporters of Burr’s approach frame sponsorship of anti–taxpayer-benefits and enforcement bills as defending state and taxpayer interests; NumbersUSA’s positive grading reflects that perspective [6]. Critics and proponents of bipartisan compromise argued a Senate deal in 2024 offered incremental legal immigration increases and targeted relief — and many Republicans opposed that compromise as insufficiently tough or politically vulnerable, according to PBS and Brookings [3] [2]. The American Immigration Council and contemporaneous reporting also show Republicans used budget and reconciliation strategies in 2025 to pursue immigration objectives, demonstrating a shift toward using majority tools rather than bipartisan bargaining [12].
6. Bottom line and limits of the record
Burr’s record in 2021–2025 was clearly oriented toward enforcement and fiscal restrictions on benefits for unauthorized immigrants, reflected in his bill sponsorships in the 117th Congress and interest-group assessments [1] [6]. However, a comprehensive, vote-by-vote comparison between Burr and every other Republican senator for 2021–2025 cannot be drawn from the available materials; the Senate roll-call databases exist but were not returned in detail here, so exact comparative tallies are not found in current reporting [8] [9].