The Senate’s border deal has been released, and it’s a horror show. It’s a $118 billion package tied to more aid for Ukraine that does next to nothing to solve the current crisis at the southern border. Don’t let the billions more in border security fool you. More funding for border agents is Biden-speak for more personnel to process the asylum claims, not to deport people who shouldn’t be here.
And while the bar for would-be asylum seekers has been raised in the bill, there are other provisions in the legislation that ensure Democrats have plenty of talking points for when they make their mass amnesty push, which has been the Left’s long-term goal (via NYT) [emphasis mine]:
Text of border security bill. 370 pages. https://t.co/5WJ29478gb
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 4, 2024
This abomination of a bill legalizes the invasion of 2 million illegals every year, pays for their lawyers, and gives Ukraine another $60 billion.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 5, 2024
Your government hates you and wants to replace you, but until that happens, it’s going to steal every last dime from you it can. https://t.co/bWzhqARGpI
Illegal aliens not from Mexico or Canada won't be counted toward total encounters. pic.twitter.com/rAjCPmj9IV
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) February 5, 2024
The plan features some of the most significant border security restrictions Congress has contemplated in years, including making it more difficult to claim asylum, vastly expanding detention capacity and effectively shutting down the border to new entrants if more than an average of 5,000 migrants per day try to cross over the course of a week, or more than 8,500 attempt to cross in any given day. Encounters would have to fall to 75 percent of those thresholds for a week before those processes could be restarted.
But it falls short of several Republican demands, including limiting parole and related programs that allow migrants to live and work legally in the United States without visas while they await a hearing on their immigration claims — sometimes for years.
[…]
With the new border measures, the price tag of the new bill is expected to be $118.3 billion — about $13 billion more than Mr. Biden initially asked for. The measure includes $60.1 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones including Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine, and $20.2 billion for improvements to border security.
[…]
Mr. Biden had included $13.6 billion for border security in his request, an indication that he and Democrats in Congress saw the situation at the border as a potential political liability in an election year. In the weeks that followed, their willingness to negotiate with Republicans about major policy changes to clamp down on unauthorized border crossings reflected a growing sense in the party of an untenable status quo, with a record-setting influx of migrants arriving in the United States without visas and the resulting crowding at shelters across the country.
[…]
The bill would raise the bar for migrants claiming a “credible fear” of persecution if returned to their home countries and would create a new voluntary repatriation program for the government to fly migrants back home on commercial airlines. But it would also direct that migrants who can claim a credible fear be released to live and work in the country, and allow immigration officers to grant asylum status on the spot to migrants presenting especially compelling cases. The bill also creates a review board to hear any appeals of the decisions, with the goal of making final asylum determinations within six months.
It also includes a measure to provide a government-funded lawyer to any unaccompanied children age 13 or under, and give any migrant put into expedited removal proceedings 72 hours to find a lawyer to contest deportation.
The bill would create 50,000 new green-card-eligible visas per year, for five years, 32,000 of which would be for families and 18,000 of which would be employment-based visas. Additionally, it ensures that the children of H-1B visa holders do not lose their green card eligibility once they become adults, and creates a new temporary visa category to let noncitizens visit U.S.-based family.
The bill also includes a version of the Afghan Adjustment Act, which creates a pathway to citizenship for Afghans who fled to the United States after the Taliban takeover.
Of course, The New York Times buried the portions about the kids of H-1B visa holders and a pathway to citizenship for Afghan refugees. Also, we will pay for the legal representation of any migrant under 13. The bill also adds 250,000 new visas over the next five years. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the bill was dead on arrival. House Republicans released a standalone Israel funding package to deliver a body blow to this Senate bill.
And there it is… what Sinema and Lankford swore wasn’t in the bill.
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) February 5, 2024
It guarantees that up to 1.8 million illegal aliens can come over our border before it’s an emergency pic.twitter.com/i05pNH29YV
.@SenatorLankford @SenMikeRounds So much for liars, internet rumors, and Russian propaganda. Everything we reported would be in the bill three weeks ago, is in the bill.
— Immigration Accountability Project (@I_A_Project) February 5, 2024
We'll be awaiting your apologies.. pic.twitter.com/7d6n3twFAE
The bill explicitly calls for the release of illegal aliens, despite being framed as ending catch and release pic.twitter.com/65CHatLy52
— Mike Howell (@MHowellTweets) February 5, 2024
The Senate took three months to craft another atrocious immigration bill, one that doesn’t complete the border wall, empower Border Patrol and ICE to target and deport criminal aliens and curb the flow of illegal immigrants flooding the border. This agreement shows precisely why bipartisanship isn’t always good for the country. Also, given Biden’s unserious attitude toward securing our borders, why make a deal with this man on this issue?
It ingeniously keeps the portions Democrats need to make their amnesty push in the long run, especially that tidbit about kids of H-1B visa holders having essentially permanent green card status after they turn 21. It’s just another talking point to put all these people on a pathway to citizenship, which now includes the unvetted Afghan refugees we scooped up recklessly when Biden let Afghanistan gall to the Taliban.
Kill this bill.
***
I mean, yeah:
A “border security bill” that opens with Ukraine funding is not a bill for border security bill. It’s a bill for Ukraine funding. Label accordingly. https://t.co/tAnm4r2tvp
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) February 4, 2024
Join the conversation as a VIP Member