Senate Republicans demanded Tuesday that the national security spending bill now making its way through Congress must include policy changes that could head off the flow of illegal immigrants at the border.
President Biden has requested $106 billion in money for U.S. efforts in Ukraine, Israel, the Pacific and at the U.S.-Mexico border, but the GOP senators said money alone won’t solve illegal immigration.
They said the bill must also include the restoration of Trump-era tools such as the “remain in Mexico” rule that required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their case played out in the U.S. court system.
The Biden administration scrapped a series of tough Trump policies and has seen an unprecedented rush at the border.
“There is a significant number of Republicans in the Senate who believe that these are all linked, and that these are all vital national security interests and priorities for the United States,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the chamber’s second-ranking GOP leader.
“There’s a lot of our members who say [border security] is something that they are just going to have to have in order to vote for something.”
Mr. Biden’s proposal includes money to hire more Border Patrol agents and immigration judges, as well as new assistance to communities struggling to accommodate all the migrants that have arrived. The proposal also would increase the number of detention beds Homeland Security has to hold migrants awaiting deportation hearings.
Republicans say those plans will chiefly help process illegal immigrants when what’s needed is a plan to keep them from coming in the first place.
“Congress also has an opportunity to force the administration to start treating our southern border like the sovereign legal boundary that it is,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Kentucky Republican added that “at the risk of repeating myself, the threats facing America and our allies are serious and they’re intertwined.”
Both the House and Senate are working on versions of the national security bill.
House Republican leaders have said each of the national security issues should be treated separately.
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They plan to vote this week on a $14.3 billion measure for Israel. The new spending would be offset by taking the money from the IRS that Democrats boosted in last year’s budget law.
Democrats and the White House were quick to label House Republicans’ proposal a “nonstarter” because of the IRS cuts. They accused House Speaker Mike Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, of delaying aid for Israel by decoupling it from Ukraine.
“It’s insulting that the hard right is trying to exploit the crisis in Israel to try to reward the ultra-rich,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “The new speaker knows perfectly well that if you want to help Israel, you can’t propose legislation that is full of poison pills.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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