Senate Republicans, led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and James Lankford (Okla.), on Monday unveiled a list of immigration reforms they will demand be attached to any foreign aid package to fund the war in Ukraine, signalling a difficult negotiation with Democrats in the coming weeks.
The Republican senators, who have been in talks with a broader cross-section of the Senate GOP conference, want a number of changes to immigration and asylum policy that Democrats have so far resisted.
They want the Department of Homeland Security to resume construction of the southwest border wall, increase pay for border patrol agents, reform the nation’s asylum laws, crack down on humanitarian parole for illegal migrants, and deny asylum to migrants who pass through safe third countries before coming to the United States.
“We must make policy changes to reduce the flow of immigration. The world is on fire and the threats to our homeland are at an all-time high. President Biden’s border policy is not working and it’s time to change course. Our proposal makes the necessary changes our country needs at this critical time,” Graham, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement accompanying a one-page list of proposals.
The GOP senators want to raise the standard for asylum applications for migrants who claim a “credible fear of persecution”. They want applicants to show that it is “more likely than not” that they will be persecuted if they remain in their home countries – a higher bar than the current requirement of a “significant possibility” of persecution.
They say migrants should be required to apply for asylum at legal ports of entry, which they argue would make it easier for Border Patrol agents to focus on drug smugglers and criminals.
They want to reduce what they call “frivolous delays” in deportation proceedings by making the denial of a migrant’s asylum claim “controlling” if the same migrant tries to use the need for asylum as a defence against deportation.
“President Biden’s immigration policies have put American workers last and exposed our communities to crime and terrorism. This border package will cut off the flow of illegal immigration, prioritise legitimate applications for entry, and restore order,” Cotton said in a statement accompanying the multi-point proposal.
The GOP senators want to end what they call ‘catch and release’, whereby illegal immigrants are released into the country even if they don’t apply for asylum.
They want to prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from using broad, class-based criteria to grant humanitarian parole, and codify two existing parole programmes: the Cuban Family Reunification Programme and parole for spouses and children of active-duty military personnel.
“We have needed significant updates to the Border Security Act for years,” Lankford said in a statement. “But President Biden has allowed the cartels to exploit the loopholes in our asylum laws like no other president in history. We need to close those loopholes and secure our border.”
Elements of the Senate GOP proposal were taken from the House-passed Secure the Border Act of 2023, which Senate Democrats have dismissed as a non-starter.
The Biden administration announced last month that it would waive more than 20 laws and immediately proceed with the construction of 20 miles of new border barriers in Texas.
In his request to Congress for $105 billion in foreign aid and border security funding, the president asked for an additional 1,300 Border Patrol agents and funding for more than 100 fentanyl detection machines.
The administration also requested funding for an additional 1,000 law enforcement officers, 1,600 additional asylum officers and 375 new immigration judge teams.
