Senate Democrats are set to join President Joe Biden's political strategy on immigration by reviving a bipartisan border security bill and holding a vote next week, Axios reported.
The move, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is aimed at giving Biden rhetorical cover to implement unilateral measures following a likely new rejection of the bill by Republicans.
The bill, which was originally supported by several Republicans, ultimately failed after former president Donald Trump criticized it for not being tough enough, leading to an avalanche of defections.
Democrats, in turn, blasted their counterparts, claiming the measure was the toughest in years and they followed Trump to prevent them from taking political credit from an issue that has proven to be an electoral liability.
Republican Senator James Lankford, the party's lead negotiator of the bill earlier this year and who openly voiced its frustration after its failure, said he won't support the initiative this time, calling Schumer's move "just political messaging."
Republicans, in fact, have made of the migration surge their top political issue, criticizing Biden and Democrats in local races over it. Their efforts seem to have been successful so far, with immigration continuing to be Americans' top concern, according to different polls, and most trusting Trump over Biden to handle the issue.
A failed vote in the Senate next week could catalyze the introduction of unilateral measures by the White House, many of which have already been anticipated. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that one of the changes would be aimed at speeding up the processing and potential removal of migrants through the asylum system.
Concretely, the change would allow for certain migrants to be processed through the asylum system rather than be sent to the back of the line, the outlet said, citing four people familiar with the issue.
The potential decision comes just a week after another change allowing authorities to bar migrants from getting asylum within days, or even hours, rather than the years it can take at the moment. The rule could target people considered national security risks.
Other rules under consideration are a sweeping presidential authority that allows him to "suspend the entry" of foreigners when it is determined that their arrival is not in the best interest of the country; and the ability to turn asylum seekers away if they cross illegally. Making it harder for asylum-seekers to pass the first interview to determine whether they can stay in the country is also under review.
Asides from domestic measures, the government has sought for enforcement by its Mexican counterpart, something that has seemingly had an effect. NBC News reported that Mexico is in fact stopping nearly three times as many migrants as it was a year ago, with country Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena saying the goal was reducing the amount of migrants reaching the U.S. southern border to no more than 4,000 a day.
Arrests at the southern border in fact continued to decrease in April, dropping 6% compared to March. The figure becomes more significant when considering it also bucks the trend of seasonal increases seen during the spring.
Concretely, there were fewer than 129,000 arrests in April, compared to 137,480 in March. It's also almost half of the almost 250,000 recorded in December, according to U.S. Customs and Border protection.
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