President Biden on Friday urged lawmakers to advance a controversial proposal aimed at combating record levels of illegal border crossings under his administration, calling it “the greatest effort ever to secure our nation's borders.” “A series of tough and fair reforms.” ”
A deal linking $61.4 billion in aid to Ukraine and increased border security appears to have fallen apart on arrival in the Senate, despite months of negotiations between the White House and a bipartisan group of senators. Yes, and several Republicans in Congress are adamantly opposed.
“We all know that our border has been broken for far too long,” said Biden, 81. admitted in a statement. “It's long past time to fix that.”
“Let's be clear: What we've been negotiating so far, if passed into law, will be the toughest and fairest reforms to securing our nation's borders to date,” the president said. did.
The text of the already-stalled bill has not yet been released, but the president teased details of the deal in his petition.
“It would give me, as president, new emergency powers to shut down the border in the event of disruption. And if I were given that power, I would exercise it the same day I signed the bill into law.” Biden said.
“Additionally, Congress must finally provide the funding I requested in October to secure our border, including an additional 1,300 Border Patrol agents, 375 immigration agents, 1,600 This includes human asylum officers and more than 100 state-of-the-art testing machines that will help detect and stop fentanyl at the Southwest border.”
The president described the pending bill as a “victory for America.”
“For everyone who is calling for stricter border controls, this is the way to get it done,” he argued. “If you're serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill. Then I'll sign it.”
Some Senate Republicans immediately condemned Biden's comments.
“If this deal is already 'negotiated,' why can't senators see it?” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) I wrote to X. “'Democracy dies in darkness'”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri): “Or Biden could stop pretending this is someone else's fault and not his fault and just enforce the law.” tweeted. “He opened the border. He can close it.”
Other provisions in the interim bill, which The Post obtained from sources Thursday, include restricting practices at the border and U.S. ports of entry, while continuing to allow migrants arriving by air to receive humanitarian parole at designated airports. It includes recognition. Grants legal counsel to unaccompanied immigrant children under the age of 13 and to immigrants deemed mentally incompetent. And the number of immigrant visas has increased to 50,000 per year.
