Representative Rick Allen (R-GA) introduced the Employee Rights Act (ERA) of 2025 on Thursday, seeking to reform labor unions and support workers’ rights. The legislation, Allen claims, will provide privacy for unionized workers, allow workers to opt out of union representation, and harmonize existing labor laws.

Allen collaborated with F. Vincent Vernuccio – the president and co-founder of labor advocacy group Institute for the American Worker (I4AW) – to write an op-ed in the Washington Examiner explaining his bill.

Referencing the One Big Beautiful Bill, Allen said, “While the forthcoming tax cuts and spending reforms will deliver even more results, Congress also needs to modernize federal law to empower workers and improve labor unions to deliver a 21st-century economy that benefits the working class.”

Among other outcomes, the bill will allow unionized workers to choose what personal information their union can access, decide whether they are represented by a union in right-to-work states, and have the choice to opt-in to non-union-related spending.

Allen said, “It also enables workers to opt in to union political spending on an annual basis, undoing the current system in which workers are automatically forced to fund political activities they may personally oppose.”

“Perhaps most importantly, the Employee Rights Act eliminates loopholes that can distract unions from faithfully representing workers’ needs and wishes,” Allen said. “It prohibits DEI provisions in collective bargaining agreements, ensuring all workers are treated equally. It ends the judicially created exemption for union-related violence and extortion, so that such illegal acts are treated appropriately under federal law.”

The ERA hopes to reform the National Labor Relations Board, which, in recent years, is reported to have pursued overreaching regulations that may harm both unionized and non-unionized laborers.

Allen also hopes to use the bill to adjust the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which gives citizens the right to organize trade unions and engage in collective bargaining.

“The Employee Rights Act has long enjoyed strong support among Republicans in both the House and Senate, to say nothing of the overwhelming majority of Americans,” Allen said.

Allen concluded by saying, “With the GOP holding Congress and the White House, it deserves consideration as soon as possible. President Donald Trump is already delivering for working Americans. Truly empowering workers and improving unions will help them rise and thrive for future generations.”

Federal prosecutors say that the government will deport illegal alien and suspected MS-13 human trafficker Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a so-called “third country” after he is released from a Tennessee jail.

The illegal alien is now expected to be sent to a willing foreign nation other than El Salvador, his country of origin, due to a 2019 court order preventing him from being sent back to his home nation.

Abrego Garcia, infamously referred to as a “Maryland man” by Democrat politicians despite being an illegal alien, was deported to El Salvador before being brought back to the United States to stand trial for federal human trafficking charges, with prosecutors alleging that he trafficked minors and MS-13 members across the United States.

A judge presiding over the case ruled that Abrego Garcia must be released while he awaits trial despite acknowledging that the man would likely be arrested by ICE. It was further confirmed on Thursday that the illegal alien would be taken back into custody upon his release.

“Our plan is that he will be taken into ICE custody and removal proceedings will be initiated,” said Jonathan Guynn, the deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice’s civil division. Guynn confirmed that Abrego Garcia is expected to be sent to a third country rather than back to El Salvador.

The Trump administration won a key victory in the Supreme Court just this week that paves the way for Abrego Garcia’s impending deportation from the United States. The ruling affirmed the administration’s legal right to send illegal aliens to willing “third countries,” allowing the Executive branch to deport people to nations other than their nation of origin.

That decision is expected to enable thousands of deportations, including the second deportation of Abrego Garcia.

While it isn’t immediately apparent which country the Salvadoran national will be sent to, the Trump administration previously deported several criminal illegal aliens, including Vietnamese and Cuban nationals, to South Sudan.

The Department of Homeland Security has remained firm in its position that Abrego Garcia will not go free, issuing a swift response to the judge who ordered his release. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asserted that “Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal illegal alien,” who “will never go free on American soil.”

DHS has not, however, provided details on Abrego Garcia’s impending deportation. “Due to operational security, ICE does not confirm future removal operations until they have landed in respective countries,” a DHS spokesman stated.