Former President Trump has responded to the Senate’s new immigration bill, calling it “terrible” and a “gift to the Democrats,” while calling for immigration and foreign aid to be handled in separate bills.
“Only an idiot or a radical left Democrat would vote for this horrible border bill that would only give us the power to close if there are 5,000 encounters a day, when we already have the right to close the border right now. , we must,” President Trump wrote. “This bill is a great gift to Democrats and a death wish to Republicans. This bill takes away the terrible work that Democrats have done on immigration and the border, pardons them, and ends it all.” Directly Republican stand on the shoulders of Don’t be stupid!!!”
President Trump continued, “We need a separate border and immigration bill. It should not be tied to foreign aid in any way! Democrats broke immigration and the border. They should fix it. .Make America Great Again!!!” ”
In a subsequent post, President Trump called the bill “a very clever trap.”
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the crowd at a campaign rally in Summerville, South Carolina, on September 25, 2023. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
“The ridiculous ‘border’ bill is nothing but a very clever trap for Republicans to hold radical left Democrats accountable for what they did to the border in time for the most important election ever.” President Trump wrote. “Don’t be fooled!!!”
The release of the long-awaited Senate immigration bill Sunday night sparked a backlash from conservatives, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. who called The bipartisan $118 billion border security and foreign aid package is “even worse than we expected” and will be “dead on arrival” in the House.
Republicans take issue with the bill’s provision that would only close the border if 5,000 illegal immigrants cross the border per day, and the billions of dollars it would send to Ukraine and Israel. .
The text of the bill would create a new “border emergency authority” to turn people away, which could be activated if the number of migrants encountered reaches an average of 4,000 per day over a seven-day period. be. Once that number reaches 5,000, authorities will become obligated.
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Republican Sen. James Lankford from Oklahoma speaks outside the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
These powers can be used for up to 270 days in the first year of implementation, but their number gradually decreases until the powers completely expire after three years.
“To be clear, the Senate border bill will not be voted on in the House,” House Minority Leader Scalise wrote to X. “What those pushing this ‘deal’ are not saying is this: The deal is admitting 5,000 illegal immigrants per person.” It grants work permits, which attracts more illegal immigrants. ”
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Members of the House Freedom Caucus urged conservative senators to veto the recently announced bill. border security They argue that it is not enough to curb the migrant crisis and compromise.
“It’s clear why Democrats waited until the last minute to dump the bill on a dumpster fire. This is much worse than we expected,” said former Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry ( (R-Pennsylvania) told Fox News Digital Sunday night after the bill was debated. The bill has been announced. “The Senate must reject this act of American betrayal.”
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December 12, 2023: Immigrants are processed in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Fox News)
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, defended the bill on a Fox News appearance Monday morning.
“This authority has the authority to say that once we reach 5,000 people, we’re going to completely close the border and deport everyone. We’ve been there every day except for seven people in the last four months,” Lankford said. . “It would change the paradigm from what the Biden administration is doing now, where they capture everyone and release them, to actually arrest everyone and deport them.”
“It literally flips the script.”
“A key aspect of this issue is, again, we Republicans are holding press conferences and complaining about the bad conditions at the border, and then deliberately trying to force the border after December, one of the worst months in American history. Are we going to keep it open?” Lankford added. “Now we really have to decide: Are we just going to complain about things or are we going to actually work on as much change as we can given the chance? ”
Fox News Digital reached out to Senator Lankford’s office regarding President Trump’s comments. Social media I posted it, but there was no immediate response.
Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind contributed to this report
