WASHINGTON —President Joe’s administration officials Biden They were scrambling on Wednesday to reach a last-minute agreement with the Republicans on the Senate to strengthen security measures on the border with Mexico, in order to obtain in exchange a military aid package for Ukraine.
An unprecedented migratory wave is affecting the United States, with more than 8 million encounters recorded by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) since Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was preparing to resume talks with Senate negotiators even as pro-immigrant activists and members of President Biden’s Democratic Party objected to some of the policies under discussion. Some activists planned to protest at the Capitol and warned of a return to the harsh measures taken under President Donald Trump.
Chaos at the border
The chaos at the southern border has moved to big cities in the United States, becoming a burden on American taxpayers.
Congress is scheduled to recess on Thursday, leaving very little time to reach a deal on Biden’s request for $110 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs. But the negotiations appear to have reduced disagreements over strengthening border security and deporting some newly arrived migrants, raising hopes of an imminent deal.
“This is hard, very hard,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declared in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, “but that’s what they sent us here to do, to do hard things.”
More than 10,000 daily meetings
Among the proposals being seriously considered, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, is allowing Homeland Security officials to prevent migrants from seeking asylum at the southern border if the total number of crossings exceeds the daily capacity of about 5,000. The figures in recent months exceed 10,000 daily meetings.
Also being discussed is a proposal to detain people seeking asylum at the border, including families with children, possibly with an electronic monitoring system.
Negotiators are also examining ways to quickly deport migrants who have been in the United States for less than two years, even if they live far from the border. But such deportations would apply only to those who have not sought asylum or who have not been approved to enter the asylum system, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
The policies resemble those that Trump tried to implement during his presidency and could not due to court rulings. If Congress passes them into law, activists would have little legal basis to resist them.
Pro-irregular immigration activists, who planned protests on Wednesday at the Capitol, warned that there could be a return to harsh anti-immigrant policies and questioned whether they would actually achieve their goal of solving the problem at the border.
Source: With information from AP and EDITORIAL
