A top Senate negotiator working to reach an agreement coupling border security reforms with aid for U.S. allies, such as Ukraine and Israel, said on Sunday the deal could be up for consideration on the Senate floor this week.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told CNN that lawmakers are “finishing the text right now” but warned that the “bipartisan deal” may be in jeopardy if Republicans “listen to” former President Donald Trump and reject the compromise that is backed by the Biden administration.
“I am hopeful that we will still have enough Republicans in the Senate who want to fix the problem at the border, rather than just do Donald Trump’s bidding, but we will see over the next 24 to 48 hours whether that’s true,” Murphy said.
I went on @CNNSOTU this morning to talk about the bipartisan immigration bill and how it will better manage the flow of people at our southern border. We should pass this bill despite Donald Trump’s desire to keep chaos at the border because it helps him politically. pic.twitter.com/7inviqO4rH
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 28, 2024
Trump, who is the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential contest after winning the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, has discouraged compromise in the talks that seek to implement immigration reforms and answer President Joe Biden’s request last year for roughly $106 billion in supplemental funds to spend on U.S. allies — including Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan — as well as border security and humanitarian assistance.
“I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!” he said in a post to Truth Social this month.
Purported details of the not-yet-released deal have emerged over the past couple of weeks. One alleged part that has drawn blowback from Republicans is a section that Fox News reported would establish a threshold of a seven-day rolling average exceeding 5,000 encounters a day to trigger a Title 42-like authority to quickly remove migrants at the border.
“This bill normalizes 5,000 people a day coming in, 5,000 people a day is over 1.8 million a year. That’s called an invasion,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “By the way, under [President] Joe Biden, we’ve had 9.6 million. So, the great Republican compromise is we’re for two-thirds of Joe Biden’s open borders. We’ll let in 6 million instead of 9 million. This makes utterly no sense.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who has been working with Murphy to come up with a compromise deal, pushed back on the critique from Cruz when asked to confirm whether the 5,000 encounters threshold was part of the agreement, contending that the section in question is being misinterpreted.
Sen. Lankford denies the media reports that the Senate border bill allows up to 5,000 illegal immigrants per day into the U.S., calling it "internet rumors."
"This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day…This is the most misunderstood section…" pic.twitter.com/6u4Ro9HJ6j
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) January 28, 2024
“Right now, there’s internet rumors. It’s all that people are running. It would be absolutely absurd for me to agree to 5,000 people a day,” he said on “Fox News Sunday” with anchor Shannon Bream, contending that the section is designed to shut down the border if there is a “rush of people” approaching.
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“This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day. There’s no amnesty. It increases the number of Border Patrol agents and it increases asylum officers. It increases detention beds so we can quickly detain and then deport individuals,” he added. “It ends catch-and-release. It focuses on additional deportation flights out. It changes our asylum process so that people can get a fast asylum screening at a higher standard and then get returned back to their home country.”
Lankford also dismissed critics who claim the deal would still allow many people into the country while giving Biden a political victory that he could brag about in an election year.
Fox: Why give Biden this in an election year? He gets to take a victory lap.
Sen. James Lankford: Republicans 4 months ago would not give funding for Ukraine, Israel, & the border bc we demanded changes in policy… and now…they're like, "just kidding".pic.twitter.com/cqEe7mAywp
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) 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 money for this. We want a change in law,'” Lanford said. “And now, it’s interesting, a few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding, I actually don’t want a change in law because of the presidential election year.’ We all have an oath to the Constitution and we have a commitment to say we’re going to do whatever we can to be able to secure the border.”