Senate prepares ‘test vote’ on deal to tighten immigration policy at border

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday announced a “test vote” next week on the national security bill, which includes a bipartisan agreement on immigration policy restrictions and a relief package at the border. Aids Ukraine and Israel.

Despite this fact, as Republicans have long demanded, President Joe Biden’s administration has agreed to help Ukraine significantly tighten immigration policy and border security, according to reports with people familiar with the matter. agreement..

“The southern border needs an urgent, urgent fix,” Schumer said. “Ukraine’s survival is at stake… “The only way to meet this occasion is if both sides are serious about reaching a bilateral settlement…We are not done negotiating, so we will continue to work towards that.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell echoed Schumer: “It’s time we did something, hopefully including a border deal, but we need to get aid to Israel and Ukraine quickly.”

Despite broad bipartisan support for supporting Ukraine, there is fierce resistance in the lower house to treating this aid independently without first approving restrictions on immigration policy.

To the point that Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to file a vacancy motion against Johnson if he allows a vote on Ukraine funding.

Trump called the deal “terrible” and said, “If it’s not a great project and really solves a problem, I won’t do it at all.” Johnson, who consults with Trump on border policy, also told his Republican colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that the provision “will not pass” in the House.

Trump’s opposition, which critics have linked to his campaign’s interests heading into the election, has led Republican leaders to question whether Congress should remove the border legislation from the package in a last-ditch effort to approve funding for Ukraine.

Sen. James Lankford, the chief Republican negotiator, said he was meeting with Republicans To clear up the “misinformation” circulating about the project.

And now-independent Arizona Sen. “The rumors about what (the project) does and doesn’t do are false,” said Kirsten Sinema, another key negotiator.

Sinema said Johnson’s team is familiar with the details of the bill, adding that one of the proposed changes, the AP reported, Immigrants seeking asylum at ports of entry will be included in the “Removal Authority Program.”, wherein your case is decided within six months. And there will be people seeking asylum between ports of entry Detained and returned within 10 to 15 days if they fail the initial interview, Known as reliable fear tests.

“It ensures that the government has the power to close the border at times when our system is overwhelmed and creates new structures to ensure that people who do not qualify for asylum cannot enter the country and remain here,” he said. said “It’s a very solid package.”

Republican Senator Mike Rounds suggested that Misinformation circulating on the Internet is linked to a Russian disinformation campaign to derail economic aid to Ukraine.