Senators proposed border deal: how would it affect immigration law?
A Senate bipartisan immigration deal and foreign aid package was unveiled on Sunday that could get a vote this week but faces stiff opposition.
A trio of senators have been negotiating for weeks to reach a deal on securing the southern border and providing foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine. On Sunday, the trio working behind the scenes released the legislation which is expected to get a key vote in the upper chamber this week.
However, top House Republicans have already expressed their opposition to the bill with Speaker Mike Johnson saying it would be “dead on arrival” should it pass the Senate. The deal would overhaul border policy implementing strict limits and giving the US President new powers to close the border. At the same time it would provide funding to Israel and Ukraine to aid them in their ongoing conflicts.
Senators proposed border deal: how would it affect immigration law?
The border deal hammered out by a bipartisan trio consisting of Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Sen. James Lankford, would codify strict limits on immigration across the southern border. It would also give the US President new emergency authority to shutdown the border if daily crossings surpass a certain threshold.
If the number of illegal border crossings reaches 4,000 per day, for a five-day average, presidential administrations could in effect close the border. Trying to encourage Republican lawmakers to back the legislation to move it forward, President Joe Biden said at the end of January that he would use the new power as soon as he signed the bill.
The Homeland secretary could decide for the most part to bar migrants that illegally cross the border from seeking asylum and expel them without an opportunity to make an asylum claim. Migrants could still apply at ports of entry.
If illegal border crossings reach 5,000 per day on average, the measure would kick in automatically. The government would be required during use of the emergency authority to process at least 1,400 asylum applications.
The number of days that the federal government could use the authority would be limited, gradually reducing from 270 in the first year to 180 in the third after which it would sunset.
Seeking asylum potentially more difficult, more immigrant visas each year
Seeking asylum could possibly become more difficult with a stricter standard of proof to meet in order to pass the initial screening. US Citizenship and Immigration Services would have the ability to decide an asylum claim by an adult bypassing the immigration court system.
Additionally, the timeline for processing asylum claims would drop from years to just six months.
The use of parole to release migrants at land borders would be narrowed under the legislation. But the president would still have the authority to designate humanitarian parole into the US to certain groups on a case-by-case basis. Afghans who were paroled into the US after the fall of Kabul in 2021 will be provided with a pathway to citizenship.
Finally, legal immigration levels would be increased by 50,000 new visas each year over five years, for a total of 250,000, for immigrants sponsored by their families or US employers.
Follow all the latest news on AS USA.