Democrats in the House and Senate are furious at reports that the White House is open to new restrictions on asylum at the border to get a deal done on its supplemental funding request — with lawmakers accusing the White House of “selling out” migrants to appease Republicans.
“It is truly shameful that President Biden and his administration are considering selling out migrants and asylum seekers in order to placate extreme Republicans who are jeopardizing our national security and that of our allies just to score a political point,” Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said in a statement.
Talks have been ongoing between lawmakers and the administration over a supplemental funding request that includes border funding as well as aid for Israel and Ukraine. The border section would be around $14 billion of the approximately $106 billion package.
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But Republicans have said that the package does not include enough restrictions on asylum and the use of humanitarian parole, and want measures in place to curb the release of migrants into the U.S. Lawmakers argue that those releases are acting as a pull factor for more migrants to come to the border.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, accused Biden of proposing ‘callous and ’inhumane’ changes to the asylum system. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
As talks appeared to stall, with some Democrats opposed to policy changes to restrict asylum, President Biden indicated last week that he was open to “significant compromises” on the matter.
CBS News reported Tuesday that the administration has now indicated it is open to a new border authority similar to Title 42 — the COVID-era order that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border until May this year — but without the necessity of a public health justification.
The administration was reportedly also open to a nationwide expansion of expedited removal, which allows for recently-entered migrants to be quickly removed if they do not meet the initial asylum standard. It is currently only being used at and near the border. CBS reported that the White House was willing to mandate the detention of certain migrants as their claims are considered.
The White House and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital, but the White House told CBS that it “has not signed off on any particular policy proposals or final agreements, and reporting that ascribes determined policy positions to the White House is inaccurate.”
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Dec. 12, 2023: Migrants are processed in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Fox News)
“The President has said he is open to compromise and we look forward to continued conversations with Senate negotiators as we work toward a bipartisan package,” spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said.
Left-wing Democrats tore into the administration and accused it of trying to revive Trump-era practices on the border and immigration.
Menendez said it was “the height of absurdity that the Biden administration is putting forward, with a straight face, callous and inhumane changes to our immigration system that President Trump could only have dreamed of accomplishing.”
“There is no excuse for entertaining failed Trump-era immigration policies,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said.
“These cruel, extreme policies are a complete nonstarter for me and many other congressional Democrats,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said. “We need real, humane solutions to our immigration system and simply cannot be trading unworkable, permanent policy changes for one-time funding.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., called the reported proposals “Deplorable. Irresponsible. Unacceptable.”
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“The fact we are considering exchanging the lives of asylum seekers for Ukrainian lives is draconian & immoral,” she said.
Meanwhile, some Democrats have said that they would require any policy changes to be accompanied by a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
It is also unclear if any compromise package would have enough votes to get through the GOP-controlled House, where top lawmakers have previously demanded the entirety of the Republican border security package be included as part of any agreement.
Meanwhile, there were another 10,000+ encounters at the southern border on Tuesday alone, the latest in a surge that has left multiple sectors overwhelmed.