Padilla criticizes border deal as ‘failed Trump-era immigration policy’

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) on Sunday denounced the Senate’s bipartisan border security and foreign policy agreement, calling it nothing more than a rollback of Trump administration policies.

In addition to foreign aid funding, the package includes major reforms to the asylum process, a presidential emergency declaration to close borders, and other immigration policy changes.

“After a months-long negotiation process that lacked transparency or the involvement of Democrats and Hispanic members of Congress from a single border state, it’s no surprise that this border deal misses the mark,” Padilla said in a statement. No,” he said. “This agreement includes a new version of the immigration policies that failed during the Trump administration, and will cause more chaos at the border, not less.”

The deal, announced Sunday night, immediately faced a slew of criticism from House Republicans. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said that the House has will not bring the bill to a vote If it passes the Senate as not going far enough.

House Democrats, particularly members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and Progressive Caucus, also support the agreement.

Earlier Sunday, progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said she was unlikely to vote in favor of the bill.

“Congressional Republicans continue to promote an enforcement-only strategy that has failed for decades,” she said. said in X, formerly Twitter. “The extreme MAGA Republicans have no interest in actually fixing our immigration system.”

In December, CHC chairwoman Rep. Nanette Díaz Barragan (D-Calif.) joined Mr. Padilla in early negotiations on the deal. Joint statement It criticizes the form of the earlier agreement.

“We don’t want the president to consider pursuing Trump-era immigration policies that Democrats have fiercely resisted and that the president himself campaigned against in exchange for aid to allies that Republicans already support. We are very concerned,” they wrote. “Giving in to demands for these permanent harmful policy changes as the ‘price to be paid’ for an unrelated one-time spending package would set a dangerous precedent.”

President Biden on Sunday endorsed the deal and praised the negotiations for working “around the clock.”

“Now, we have reached agreement on a bipartisan national security agreement that includes the toughest and fairest border reform in decades, and I strongly support it,” Biden said in a statement.

“I urge Congress to come together and quickly pass this bipartisan agreement. Bring it to my desk so I can sign it into law immediately,” he said.

“Now House Republicans have to make a decision. Do they want to solve the problem? Or do they want to continue playing border politics? I’ve made a decision. I’m not ready to solve the problem. We are ready to secure our borders. And so are the American people,” Biden wrote.