A bipartisan group of senators is on the verge of finalizing their immigration deal, but Republican intra-party warfare could threaten its passage.
Former President Donald Trump is urging Congress to abandon the deal before the text of the deal has even been released.
‘There is zero chance I will support this horrible open borders betrayal of America,’ Trump said of the deal at a rally over the weekend in Nevada.
‘A lot of the senators, they’re trying to blame it on me,’ he went on. ‘I say, ‘that’s okay, please blame it on me.’ I’d rather have no bill than a bad bill.’
But the White House insists the deal will institute ‘the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country’ and give Biden new executive authority to ‘shut down the border.’
Former President Donald Trump is urging Congress to abandon the deal before the text of the deal has even been released
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a leader on the border talks, was censured by his home state GOP over the weekend
White House officials, including Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, became involved in the Capitol Hill talks in mid-December. December saw the highest number of migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border of all time at over 302,000 according to official Border Patrol figures.
Biden said in a written statement on Friday the deal would allow him ‘a new emergency authority’ to close the border. He added: ‘And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.’
But Trump insisted Congress did not need to pass legislation – that the executive branch already has the authority it needs to secure the border.
‘I had the safest and most secure Border in U.S. History. I didn’t need a “Bill!” They are using this horrific Senate Bill as a way of being able to put the BORDER DISASTER onto the shoulders of the Republicans. The Democrats BROKE THE BORDER, they should fix it. NO LEGISLATION IS NEEDED, IT’S ALREADY THERE!!!’ he wrote on Truth Social.
And while the official details of the proposal are few, House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a letter last week it is ‘likely dead on arrival in the House anyway.’
Senate Republicans have expressed frustrations and even accused their colleagues of opposing the border bill over election year politics.
An aerial view of the area as migrants walking along razor wire after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States on January 28, 2024
‘It is interesting, Republicans four months ago, would not give funding for Ukraine for Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy. So we actually locked arms together and said, We’re not going to give you money for this. We want to change the law,’ Sen. James Lankford, Okla., said on Fox News over the weekend.
‘A few months later, when we’re finally going to the end, they’re like, “Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want to change in law because the presidential election year,”‘ he went on.
Back home Lankford was censured over the weekend by the Oklahoma GOP, which threatened to withdraw support for him if he did not ‘cease and desist jeopardizing the security and liberty of the people of Oklahoma.’
‘The fact that [Trump] would communicate to Republican senators…that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling,’ Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters last week.
‘If we fail to get this passed, I’m going to file exactly the same bill if Trump wins and we have a majority of the Senate. I’ll guarantee you that everybody who’s against it. It’s all about politics and not having the courage to respectfully disagree with President Trump and tell him: ‘This will help him.’ He has requested it before,’ Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.
‘I didn’t come here to have a president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy that will help a president who is serious [about] securing the border.’
Lankford avidly disputed Trump’s assertion that the deal would lead to ‘open borders’ – and reports that it would allow up to 5,000 crossers per day before allowing immediate expulsion.
‘It would be absolutely absurd for me to agree to 5000 people a day. This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day,’ he said.
The Oklahoma Republican insisted the deal would increase the number of border agents and asylum officers, increase detention beds, end catch and release, up the number of deportation flights and speed up asylum screening.
‘It is a shutdown of the border and everyone actually gets turned around. Okay, that’s the focus that we have right now. Is how do we actually intervene in this administration, in turn people around not let people in,’ he said.