Tensions emerged between Republican lawmakers during the past days following pressure from former president Donald Trump to tank the deal on border security, as negotiators from both parties said they were getting closer to an agreement.
According to Senator Mitt Romney, one of the high-profile Republican officials who is at odds with Trump, the former president doesn't want the deal to go forward to continue using it as a talking point during the campaign trail.
"The border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and Congress people that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem — because he wants to blame Biden for it — is really appalling," he told CNN.
"The American people are suffering as a result of what's happening at the border," he said. "And someone running for president ought to try and get the problem solved, as opposed to saying, 'Hey, save that problem! Don't solve it! Let me take credit for solving it later.'"
Republicans' dilemma took centerstage after Punchbowl News reported that the Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, cast doubt on the future of the deal in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday. "We don't want to do anything to undermine" Trump, the outlet reported.
Axios added to the coverage conveying some nuance and indicating that "some senators said the coverage of McConnell's comments was overblown and misleading, and the GOP leader clarified his support for the negotiations in a conference meeting Thursday."
Following that meeting, Romney said that McConnell is "fully behind the border bill" and "not going to let political considerations of any campaign stand in the way of his support."
However, Trump did make his position clear, criticizing the agreement on his social media platform. Republicans should not "do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING," he said on Truth Social.
Border security has become a salient talking point for Republicans, who have criticized Biden for what they claim is a lax approach to the border. And it is likely to have an electoral impact as well, as a recent NBC News poll showed that 74 percent of all people surveyed agreed with the need to bolster funding for border security.
Even if McConnell continues to be on board, the former President's opposition to the agreement could lead some Republican lawmakers to withdraw their support for the current language.
In fact, a series of GOP senators held a press conference on Wednesday criticizing the deal. Ted Cruz called it "utterly ineffective in fixing the problem" and Ron Johnson said that "Senate leadership hasn't been able to describe is how the current negotiation, the elements that have been laid out for us, how that actually would work."
The negotiations over the border are key for the Biden administration as it also seeks to unlock military aid to Israel and Ukraine in their wars with Hamas and Russia, respectively.
Negotiators said earlier this week that they were optimistic about the $106 billion package, moving on to discussing funding. "We're at the point of drafting and finalizing text. We don't have an enormous amount of work left to do," said Senator Chris Murphy, leading the negotiations for the Democratic party.
Moreover, leading Republican Senator James Lankford told NBC News that this will be "by far, the most conservative border security bill in four decades."
Among the main reported changes is the ability for border officials to summarily expel migrants without processing their asylum claims. This would effectively revive the Trump-era Title 42 pandemic order and allow officials to pause U.S. asylum law without a public health justification.
The Biden administration has also reportedly backed the expansion of a process known as expedited removal, which allows officials to deport migrants without court hearings if they don't ask for asylum or if they fail their initial asylum interviews. The program is currently limited to the border region. It would also detain certain migrants allowed into the country pending the adjudication of their claims.
The possibility of granting work permits to asylum seekers was also brought to the negotiating table, something that could make a deal more palatable for some Democrats who have criticized some hardline measures.
According to CBS News, the talks also include potentially giving permanent legal status to tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees and relief to children of immigrants working on H-1B visas for high-skilled workers. Members of this group is often at peril of self-deportation when turning 21 because their status is tied to their parents' visas.
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