The long-awaited $118 billion additional spending deal includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and measures to stem the historic crisis on the southern border, ahead of a Senate vote expected later this week. It was announced late Sunday by senators.
The policy has the support of Senate leadership and the Biden administration, and the funding will provide two U.S. allies ($60 billion to Ukraine and $14 billion to Israel) and about $20 billion to control illegal immigration. It says it is aimed at bipartisan agreement. At the southern border, encounters reached a record 2.4 million in 2023.
“The bipartisan agreement in the Senate is tough and fair and will take meaningful steps to address the challenges our country faces after decades of Congressional inaction,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “There is,” he said.
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But it faces significant opposition from Republicans and other conservatives who say it doesn’t do enough to address the border crisis or stop releases into the interior. Some liberal Democrats also oppose the bill, saying it would hurt immigrants seeking asylum.
The main parts of the immigration agreement are:
U.S. Border Patrol agents monitor more than 2,000 migrants at a field processing center in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
“Border Emergency Authority”
At the heart of the deal is a new three-year authority, in some ways similar to the coronavirus-era Title 42, which allows authorities to block entry into the United States at the southern border.
This permission works if you have a 7-day rolling average of 5,000 encounters per day, or 8,500 encounters per day. At that point, DHS is obligated to expel without processing all immigrants except unaccompanied children. This authority can only be terminated if the seven-day encounter rate decreases by at least 25%, and DHS has 14 days to terminate the authority.
However, the President may suspend this authority for up to 45 days, and by the third calendar year, the DHS Secretary’s use of the authority will be limited to half of the calendar year. DHS may also implement this authority at its discretion if the average number of encounters per day exceeds her 4,000.
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As for those eligible for processing, single adults will still be sent abroad, family units will be released into the United States, and asylum claims will be expedited through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The number of ICE detainees would also increase from the current 34,000 to about 50,000.
work permit for immigrants
The bill would speed up two-year work permits for people released into the interior, meaning they could start working immediately instead of having to wait months to receive a permit as they currently do. do. It’s a demand Democratic mayors in cities such as New York and Chicago have been pushing for months for large numbers of immigrants. If a migrant is denied asylum, these permits will be revoked.
The bill also includes a legal requirement to keep immigrants informed about their rights, including their right to access a lawyer. Children also have access to government-funded lawyers.
asylum rules
The bill would tighten the language of the initial “credible fear” test that immigrants claiming asylum face when removed through expedited removal, a practice that could be expanded as part of the bill. It is expected.
Migrants will now be required to prove a “reasonable possibility” of persecution, rather than a “substantial possibility” of persecution, if returned to their home country. It would also move consideration of asylum bans, including convictions, to the first review stage of the process rather than later in the process.
It will also create a new eligibility criterion known as “domestic relocation.” This means that migrants may be denied asylum if they seek safety in their home country instead of fleeing to the United States, and asylum is expedited by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Became. ) The law gives officials, rather than immigration judges, the authority to grant asylum. This is similar to asylum rules introduced by the Biden administration last year, which are expected to shorten the process from years to months.
It would also eliminate the use of humanitarian parole to release immigrants into the United States at the border. This includes the use of the CBP One App for such purposes.
Migrants attempt to reach the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 17, 2024. (Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Financing and staffing at the border
The bill includes 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, more than 4,300 new asylum officers, 1,200 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, and 100 new teams of immigration judges. It includes billions of dollars in funding for additional border personnel and infrastructure. .
It also includes $1.4 billion in FEMA funding for nongovernmental organizations and cities that help settle migrants, and $650 million for border wall construction and reinforcement. It will also provide $450 million to countries to help remove illegal immigrants and return them to their countries.
Funding will also be provided for 100 testing machines to detect fentanyl under a new law aimed at preventing fentanyl trafficking into the United States.
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Increased legal immigration routes
Aside from the border, the bill also includes work permits and temporary visas for 250,000 “documented dreamers” — children who immigrated on temporary work visas and have since become adults.
The bill would also raise the cap on the number of green cards issued per year by 50,000, most of which would be family-based. It would also establish an expedited pathway for Afghans evacuated to the United States to obtain green cards.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.
