How the bipartisan border deal would transform the U.S. immigration system

The most significant immigration reform proposal in a generation is now in the hands of the Senate. The bipartisan deal would tighten asylum rules and allow for partial border shutdowns while increasing enforcement and opening some new avenues for legal migration. The measure would also offer billions in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.
Amna Nawaz:
The most significant immigration reform proposal in a generation is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate, after negotiators unveiled their compromise deal. The bipartisan deal would tighten asylum rules and allow for partial border shutdowns, while increasing enforcement and opening some new avenues for legal migration.
Geoff Bennett:
The measure would also offer billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan for the defense of their respective borders.
Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has been digging into the bill text and the immediate reactions to it.
Lisa, it’s good to see you.
So, this is a significant bill, 370 pages, as you well know, because I know you read through the entire thing. What are the highlights?
Lisa Desjardins:
OK, lots to talk about here.
And I want to help people understand there are two pieces to this bill, one, very big policy, especially on asylum, and then also big dollars when it comes to security here and abroad. So let’s look at the overview of what’s in here.
First of all, let’s talk about that immigration policy. There is an overhaul especially of the asylum system. And then it also expands ICE detention in general. It would also allow for border closures of some sorts, meaning a stop in processing of asylum claims under certain circumstances.
Now, as for that national security and international security piece, $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel. And if you look at all of the other dollars in here, it adds up to over $115 billion. And that kind of money is essentially what President Biden initially requested.
So, really, the focus here at this moment is on that immigration policy part. The senators who negotiated this say it was extraordinary they were even able to get to this point. But they now have critics from both sides, and they are stressing to them that they see this as a once-in-a-generation bill.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ):
And this week, the Senate will begin to take action a large national security package that includes a realistic, pragmatic, and the strongest solution to our border crisis in my lifetime.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK):
Are we as Republicans going to have press conferences and complain the border’s bad and then intentionally leave it open after the worst month in American history in December?
Lisa Desjardins:
Those are two of the senators, along with a third, Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut. Those three senators are the ones who have been behind closed doors weekends, nights for the past few months to negotiate this out, also with the Biden team on board this.
But now they have to convince 60 senators. And right now, by my count, there’s just 12, with most senators not saying how they feel yet.
Geoff Bennett:
And we should say that Amna is set to speak with Senator Murphy momentarily.
President Biden, back when he was trying to salvage this deal, he said that he would shut the border down using the authority granted to the president in the bill. How would that work exactly?
Lisa Desjardins:
This gets complex. But think about the problems that this bill is aiming to solve.
That huge group of people that have been massing at the border, the surge there, many of them have crossed the border through our asylum policy, which has meant that because of a lack of detention space and the way our asylum policy works, they have entered the country almost automatically and waited processing sometimes for years, in theory.
So what this bill has done to try and address that is a few things with this shutting down the border concept. Let me explain this. This would be a new authority that would be given to DHS. And under this authority, DHS could immediately deport most of the migrants that were encountered at the border, as opposed to now, when those migrants are generally allowed in the country to await processing.
Now, this would go into effect optionally for the DHS secretary at 4,000 migrants a day, when we hit that average level. It would be mandatory at 5,000 migrants a day. Now, some conservatives have a big problem with those numbers, but that is much lower than the numbers that we saw in the past few weeks, for sure.
Also, I want to mention that that is a policy closure of the border. Of course, the border, there’s still open land there. This does allow a DHS secretary to continue building a border wall if they choose.
Geoff Bennett:
And reading through the legislation, Lisa, what’s clear is that it really dramatically reimagines the asylum system in this country.
Tell us more about that.
Lisa Desjardins:
Yes, I was texting with all kinds of people last night who didn’t really believe me when I said what was in this in terms of the asylum system.
So let’s go through that, first of all, the asylum proposals in here. There would be a tougher standard for people to enter the country in that first screening. The standard would move to clear and convincing. Right now, it’s just you have to show a significant possibility to prove that you have been persecuted.
Now, a fraction of the people would pass that screening, a very small fraction. Most would probably be denied and put into removal processing and for deportation. Now, here’s a big change. Right now, immigration judges are making most of these decisions. It would take the immigration judge completely out of the asylum process. And, instead, asylum officers would make that decision.
It’s not even clear there would be a full interview. We’re not sure that lawyers would be present, though those applying could get a lawyer if they wanted. But then, finally, this whole goal from this system is to do all of this in 180 days the entire process.
Now, while some on the left like that shortened process for asylum seekers, some of them are highly critical, saying this is so limiting to asylum that it means very few people who really are fleeing persecution would make it through. There’s one voice.
Geoff Bennett:
There’s pushback — I’m sorry, go ahead.
Lisa Desjardins:
Yes.
This is Andrea Flores from FWD.US.
Andrea Flores, FWD.US:
… goal to reduce the amount of time it takes to review a claim. Unfortunately, this bill really goes overboard in making it even harder to get an already hard benefit. So, it’s adding a new asylum bar that would impact many of the people who otherwise might be able to be qualify for protection.
Lisa Desjardins:
So, that’s a concern, that this is just really limiting and maybe a human rights concern from the left. The senators who put this together say no.
Geoff Bennett:
Well, I was going to say there’s pushback from the left and, of course, there’s pushback from the right. What’s interesting, the GOP-friendly U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out today and said they support this legislation, says it has desperately needed reforms.
Why are Republicans on the Hill, why are they opposed to it? What are they saying?
Lisa Desjardins:
And at least one Border Patrol organization.
They say that, while they do like the increase in detention to 50,000, they think this actually does not end that thing called catch-and-release, that while many migrants through this system would be given sort of what’s called an alternative to detention, they would be having ankle bracelets, some say that’s not enough and that this would leave people in this country able to kind of at will move around, which is something that the conservatives don’t like, but which Democrats say there’s not proof that that’s been a significant problem.
I talked to Chad Wolf, who’s a former secretary of homeland security.
Chad Wolf, Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security: I don’t think it ends catch-and-release. They talk about single adults being detained.
Well, they only have 50,000 beds. And I can guarantee you there is a lot more single adults coming across that border that need to be apprehended before they can be removed than 50,000.
Lisa Desjardins:
Conservatives also wanted some things that were not in here. They wanted more limits on humanitarian parole. It’s a win for the Biden White House that there are no limits on that right now in this bill.
And in addition to that, expedited removal, kind of fast-track deportations, conservatives wanted more of that. And that also is not in this bill.
Geoff Bennett:
So in the 30 seconds we have left, Lisa, where is all of this headed?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right. It’s tricky.
We expect a vote on this in the Senate on Wednesday. Now, the three senators that I talked about are moving hard to try and get those votes. It is uphill, even in the Senate, which is amazing, because this is the most conservative immigration legislation we have seen in decades. But they’re having trouble with Republicans, namely, House Speaker Mike Johnson.
He doesn’t have a Senate vote, of course, but he has influence. Here’s what he tweeted out. He said: “This is — this bill is even worse than we expected. If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival.”
The hope from senators behind this is that they can turn that around by getting a big Senate vote. Right now, it looks pretty rough. At the same time, we know there’s political influence here from Donald Trump and others.
Geoff Bennett:
Indeed.
Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much for that great reporting.
Lisa Desjardins:
You’re welcome.