Republicans Draw Red Line for Border Enforcement Deal
Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah told Newsweek that he views reforms to presidential parole authority as a redline issue that “has to be addressed.” Here, he’s seen answering questions at the U.S. Capitol on September 13, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
After weeks of negotiations, the Senate appeared close to reaching a bipartisan agreement to strengthen enforcement efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border. However, one key sticking point has held up the effort.
Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, lead Republican negotiator, said on Fox News Sunday that he expected the Senate would see legislative text outlining a potential border deal this week, only to tell reporters on Monday that such a deadline appeared unlikely.
Lead Democratic negotiator Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said that same day that the issue of parole authority, a mechanism through which the government can temporarily admit migrants for “urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons,” stood as the main point of contention.
During a Tuesday briefing, Murphy returned to the issue and stressed that Democrats are “not interested” in taking away “tools” that help the administration of President Joe Biden manage the border, citing parole as one of those tools. However, to get the nine GOP votes needed to pass a deal through the Senate, Democrats may have to soften their stance.
“The key is to stop letting, now, literally millions of people into the country who will in almost all cases not show up for [an immigration court] hearing and thereby become permanent residents in the United States,” Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah told Newsweek. “You’ve got to deal with parole, or the Biden administration will keep doing what it’s been doing, which is allowing 10 to 12 thousand a day into the country.”
Romney, who sits on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee responsible for border enforcement, said he views parole as a redline issue that “has to be addressed.” With the Utah senator being one of his party’s key swing votes, it’s unlikely that a border bill unable to gain Romney’s support would pass the Senate, much less the House.
The border negotiations come as part of a larger national security deal being pushed by the Biden administration that would include billions in aid for Ukraine. Many House Republicans as well as some senators to the right of Romney want to see the border addressed separately from Ukraine, and they want reforms to parole that could significantly reduce the number of migrants allowed into the U.S.
“What my worry is, no matter how we change these other laws, if we change asylum, if we change any type of rules, that [Biden] will just say, ‘the heck with it, I’m just going to grant parole,'” Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, a member of the Homeland Security committee, told Newsweek. “So, I think we need to make this as tight as possible. I think that’s why most of us are locked in on some type of a top number.”
While the right may broadly want to see parole reform, changes to the authority remains a delicate issue on the left, as migrant advocates view it as one of the key mechanisms through which individuals facing persecution and environmental devastation can seek refuge.
Senate Democratic negotiators and the White House have already faced heat from progressives and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who warned against any deal that significantly restricts migration. Striking a deal that satisfies Republicans without losing too many Democrats will remain elusive as the heated partisan politics surrounding immigration and border enforcement continue to intensify.
Nonetheless, Murphy and Lankford as well as independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are pushing forward with negotiations. Murphy offered some optimism during his Tuesday press conference address, saying that “we are closer to an agreement than we have been since the beginning of these talks.”
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