FIRST ON FOX: A number of conservative groups and former border officials are urging Republican lawmakers to reject a potential compromise on border funding that falls short of the House signature legislation passed this year — as the clock ticks down on a potential deal.
Negotiations are ongoing between Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration over a $106 billion supplemental spending agreement for the border, Israel and Ukraine. Republicans have demanded policy changes, including asylum limits, to restrict the entry of migrants into the U.S. as part of the deal.
Republicans in the House and conservative groups have called for the inclusion of the entirety of H.R. 2 — the House signature legislation passed in the chamber this year which ramps up border security, restarts border wall construction, brings back the Remain-in-Mexico policy and limits the use of asylum and humanitarian parole among other sweeping changes.
REPUBLICANS SEE PROGRESS IN BORDER TALKS, BUT UNCLEAR IF DEAL WITHIN REACH AS CRISIS RAGES
Dec. 12, 2023: Migrants are processed in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Fox News)
A Senate working group released a slimmer version of proposals taken in part from H.R. 2, but that was rejected by the White House and Senate Democrats. This week it was reported that the administration was open to a Title 42-type expulsion authority in certain circumstances, expanded expedited removal and a broadening of immigration detention. Those proposals drew optimism from some Senate Republicans, even as some Democrats and immigration activists condemned them.
However, the conservatives — who are part of a coalition that previously warned Congress against “watering down” H.R. 2, — say that it falls short of what is required to fix the ongoing crisis at the border which has hit historic highs in terms of migrant encounters.
Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Action, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that “years of backroom deals and weakness from Congress have given us the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history” and that Americans are “sick and tired” of secret negotiations that end in “do-nothing bills.”
“The border is in chaos because of Biden’s intentional destruction of the enforcement measures that discouraged illegal immigration. Lawmakers cannot trust this administration with more money and more power to make up the rules as they go. Conservatives have already passed a plan to secure the border. H.R. 2 gets the job done,” he said. “Anything less would be a defeat for the American people and the rule of law.”
“Allowing the Biden administration to use a Christmas deadline and false promises of border security to pass billions in foreign funding is unacceptable. Conservative members of Congress shouldn’t take these negotiations seriously—the American people surely do not,” he said.
A group of migrants who have crossed into the US from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas listen to instructions given by a Border Patrol Agent on August 25, 2023. ((Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP) (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images))
Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center and a former DHS official, dismissed reported claims by the Biden administration that it would deport and detain more.
“That’s current law, which they’ve ignored for three years. That’s neither a ‘concession’ nor credible,’ she said.
Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a Heritage visiting fellow, called the policies in H.R. 2 a “no-brainer”
“Because we proved they worked under the Trump administration and implementing these policies resulted in the most secure border of my lifetime,” he said. “Why would anyone negotiate proven success? Now is the time to be strong and act.
“The FBI has publicly stated that the threat stream to this nation is very high. The time for negotiating is over,” Homan said. “We can no longer accept the Democrats delaying action on Israel and Ukraine because continuing an open border national security failure is more important to them.”
Former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan accused Senate Democrats of “negotiating with themselves to water down what they already agreed was the path to success.”
“Throwing more money at the crisis and begging the current administration to enforce the laws they have disregarded for three years, without the inclusion of the policy changes contained in H.R. 2, is not a solution – it’s failure. What’s happening at our borders is not about immigration – it’s about our ability to safeguard our nation against a vast set of complex threats pouring across them,” he said. “When did it become acceptable to ‘compromise’ on protecting and defending our borders and our sovereignty?”
MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AGAIN TOP 10K IN SINGLE DAY AS LAWMAKERS EYE NEW BORDER LIMITS
Chris Chmielenski, President of the Immigration Accountability Project, said that the proposal “falls short” of addressing the crisis and warned that “any Republican that goes along will join the Biden Administration in owning it.” The only way to end the crisis, he said, is to pass H.R. 2.
“Then, and only then, will a loud and clear message be sent around the world that the U.S. border is closed,” he said.
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Lawmakers are due to leave Washington on Thursday for the holiday break, it is unclear if a deal will be reached before then. Meanwhile, sources confirmed to Fox News this week that encounters breached the 10,000 mark at the southern border in a single day on Tuesday.