On Wednesday, the Senate's border security deal failed to pass its first hurdle.
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Raleigh, N.C., Jan. 18, 2024. As illegal migration continues to overwhelm border agents and sanctuary cities across the country, many are focusing on what needs to be done to prevent the situation from worsening.
its first hurdle. A 49-50 vote against allowing debate of the deal on the floor. The border deal, tied to foreign aid, was unveiled Sunday after months of negotiations. The lead GOP negotiator on the deal, Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., told The National Desk U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials support the bill, saying it would "drastically change" what's happening at the southern border. From 1,000 to 5,000 to 10,000 people that are crossing the border a day. It would drop to hundreds immediately and it’s a manageable number for them to quickly detain, screen and deport those folks quickly. The bipartisan border package that was blocked would have granted the Homeland Security secretary emergency authority to prohibit entry for most individuals if an average of more than 4,000 people per day try to enter the country unlawfully over the course of a week. If the number reaches 5,000 or if 8,500 try to enter unlawfully in a single day, use of the authority would be mandatory. The bill would have also made it harder to claim asylum at the border and expand detention facilities, in an effort to reduce the number of migrants. If the proposal were passed into law, the new authority could be triggered almost immediately, given that border encounters topped 10,000 on some days during December, which was the highest month on record for illegal crossings. President Joe Biden has said he would use the authority to “shut down” the border. According to two U.S. officials, the Biden administration is considering taking executive action to deter illegal crossings,However, the officials told NBC regardless of how executive action may appear, it would "pale in comparison" to the passage of the border security deal. Lankford spoke of the authority the president has to enforce the law at the border, saying Biden would have more tools at his disposal with the passage, but would actually have to enforce the law. “There’s a lot of authorities that President Biden has today that he’s not using. If President Biden would actually enforce the law, like he has the ability to enforce the law, things would be dramatically different." Lankford said even under former President Donald Trump, there were days with 4,000 or more crossing illegally in a day, and that even "they were struggling to get additional authorities." "The authorities that the Trump administration was asking for in 2019 are in this bill. We would never have a day, regardless who is president, somebody who is going to enforce it, or not enforce it, we would never have a day again where that they wouldn’t be able to enforce the law because they’d have more laws and authorities at their disposal," Lankford said. Several lawmakers have said they still plan to move forward with a second plan to get the critical aid passed. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer even tried to push ahead to a crucial test vote Wednesday evening on a $95 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies — a modified package with the border portion stripped out. The White House has said Biden believes there should be new border policy but would also support moving the aid for Ukraine and Israel alone, as he has from the start.
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