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Senate Republicans and Democrats on Sunday announced an $118.3 billion compromise aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration crossing the border with Mexico and expediting critical security aid to Ukraine, but they disagree on both issues. A deal faces long prospects in a deeply divided Congress.
The announcement of the agreement comes after more than three months of near-daily talks between senators and Biden administration officials and addresses policy issues that have vexed presidents of both parties and ignored decades of compromise efforts on Capitol Hill. It is seen as an impossible breakthrough. . President Biden pledged last month to immediately close the border if the bill becomes law, but on Sunday he urged Congress to pass the bill and send it to the president’s desk as soon as possible.
“If you believe, as I do, that we must secure our borders now, doing nothing is not an option,” he said in a statement, adding, “House Republicans must decide.” . Do they want to solve the problem? Or do you want to continue politics around borders? ”
The bill includes some of the most significant border security restrictions Congress has considered in recent years. These include making it more difficult to apply for asylum, significantly expanding detention capacity, and increasing the number of migrants attempting to cross the border illegally if an average of more than 5,000 migrants attempt to cross the border each day per week; This includes effectively closing the border to new arrivals if attempted. You can cross at any time.
But Speaker Mike Johnson has already declared the bill “dead on arrival” in the Republican-controlled House. Additionally, with former President Donald J. Trump actively campaigning against the deal, it is unclear whether the bill will even pass the Democratic-led Senate, and it is difficult to advance the bill without bipartisan support. support is required.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said he plans to bring the bill to a first vote on Wednesday in a key test of its ability to survive.
“I know the overwhelming majority of senators want this to happen, and we need bipartisan cooperation to move quickly,” Schumer said in a statement Sunday.
But Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and minority leader, on Sunday praised the bill for its “direct and immediate solutions to the crisis at our southern border,” but urged his Republican colleagues to support the bill. I didn’t get to the point of giving an order.
The measure includes $20.2 billion for border security improvements, including hiring new asylum and border agents, expanding the number of available detention beds, and increasing testing for fentanyl and other illegal drugs. It is. It also includes $60.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance to Israel, and $10 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine.
But the bill also includes stronger border wall construction and a parole system that would allow immigrants to legally live and work in the U.S. without visas, sometimes for years, while they await hearings on their immigration claims. It does not meet several Republican demands, including limits on related programs.
The inaction has alienated right-wing Republicans who advocate tougher measures, while the restrictions have infuriated progressive Democrats.
“Absolutely no,” Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said on social media Sunday, adding in a second post, “This is an open border bill if I’ve ever seen it.” Ta.
Some immigration advocates also criticized the bill as being too restrictive.
“This border deal misses the point,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said in a statement. “This agreement includes a new version of the immigration policies that failed during the Trump administration, and will cause more chaos at the border, not less.”
This opposition could complicate passage of the plan in the closely divided Senate, where it would need bipartisan support (at least 60 votes) to advance. And the compromise threatens to completely invalidate the deal in the Republican-led House. There is deep opposition in the House of Representatives to additional aid to Ukraine, and many right-wing Republicans believe immigration restrictions are insufficient.
Mr. Johnson and other House Republicans have repeatedly said they would only accept a border deal if it included or at least substantially mirrored the harshly restrictive legislation passed last spring. The bill would reinstate a series of Trump-era policies, including requiring immigrants who cannot fit into U.S. detention facilities to wait out immigration court dates in Mexico.
Mr. Johnson has publicly resisted a vote on the Senate deal, but instead voted in the House this week to send $17.6 billion in security aid to Israel alone and impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. I plan to do so. He was charged with willfully failing to maintain border security.
Bipartisan Senate negotiations were spurred by a Republican ultimatum in the fall, threatening to withhold support for a bill that would inject new U.S. aid into Ukraine unless it was combined with tough border enforcement measures and funding. Ta.
Senate Republicans followed through on that threat in December, announcing Biden’s request for an emergency national security package that included tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, funding for Israel’s war in Gaza, humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, and security measures. Blocked the security spending package. Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden included $13.6 billion for border security in his request, an early signal that he and congressional Democrats see the border situation as a potential political liability in an election year. . In the weeks that followed, the party’s willingness to negotiate with Republicans on major policy changes to crack down on unauthorized border crossings reflected a sense within the party that the status quo was unsustainable due to the record influx of immigrants arriving in the United States without authorization. It reflected the growing trend of visa.
Right-wing Republicans are rushing to capitalize on public dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the border crisis, with some arguing that the president and Democrats should not support immigration legislation that would allow them to claim credit for tackling the issue. There are also many.
The president’s parole powers emerged as a central issue in the negotiations. Republicans have called for strict limits on the number of people allowed to enter the United States on humanitarian grounds, and for most to allow people fleeing war-torn and economically devastated countries to temporarily live and work in the United States. requested to terminate the program.
The bill maintains the president’s parole powers and does not count people entering the country in group-based programs or unaccompanied minors toward the daily threshold of migrant encounters that could trigger a border closure.
The drafters of the agreement argue that the new restrictions will still significantly reduce border crossings.
“If this law had already gone into effect, the border would have been closed every day this year,” Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona and one of the lead senators negotiating the deal, told reporters.
The number of encounters must fall to an average of 75% of the shutdown threshold over a period of one week before the affected processes can be restarted. The bill would also give the president discretion to close the border if encounters exceed an average of 4,000 people per day over a week.
Republicans are also taking aim at parts of the compromise package that would streamline the asylum process.
The bill would raise standards for immigrants who say they have a “credible fear” of persecution if returned to their home country and create a new voluntary deportation program in which the government would send immigrants home on commercial airlines. be. But it also directs immigrants with a reasonable fear of persecution to be released and live and work in the country, and allows immigration officials to grant asylum status on the spot to immigrants who present a particularly compelling case. I will do it. The bill also establishes a review board to hear appeals against decisions, instead of sending such cases to court, with the goal of making a final refugee status determination within six months. .
The bill would provide government-funded legal representation to unaccompanied children under 13 and give immigrants in expedited removal proceedings 72 hours to find an attorney to challenge their deportation. It includes measures to provide
To alleviate the backlog, the bill would create 50,000 new green card-eligible visas per year for five years, including 32,000 family visas and 18,000 employment-based visas. It is planned to be. It also ensures that the children of H-1B visa holders do not lose their green card eligibility upon reaching adulthood, and creates a new temporary visa category that allows noncitizens to visit family members based in the United States. I plan to.
And the measure incorporates a version of the Afghanistan Adjustment Act, which would create a path to citizenship for Afghans who fled to the United States after the Taliban takeover.
Further complicating the bill’s fate, several left-wing Democratic senators have expressed unease with the idea of sending military aid to Israel without certain conditions. They called for a vote on amendments stipulating that weapons be used in accordance with international law, that humanitarian aid be unhindered, and that Congress retain the power to scrutinize supplies sent to Israel.
These sentiments may be further fueled by provisions in the bill that prohibit the distribution of humanitarian aid through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The United States and other countries cut funding to the agency after Israel accused more than a dozen of its employees of participating in the Oct. 7 attack on Hamas.
Hamed Areaziz Contributed to the report.
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