Is the GOP About to Sell Out On the Border?-The Lankford-Schumer Deal Should Be a Nonstarter; Senate Border Deal Would Allow 5,000 Illegal Immigrants a Day

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Is the GOP about to sell out on the border?

The Lankford-Schumer deal should be a nonstarter

Some details of the latest congressional border deal, negotiated by Republican senator James Lankford and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, dropped Saturday. Conservatives didn’t have high hopes for negotiations, but the reported deal is worse than imagined.

The Senate has been tight-lipped about discussions, but Rosemary Jenks, government relations director at the Immigration Accountability Project, says sources familiar with the negotiations have leaked details to her. The current framework of the deal reportedly involves expanding legal immigration and providing greater incentives to illegal immigrants in exchange for slight changes to border policy.

Here are some of the key proposals in the Schumer-Lankford deal:

• Illegal immigrants immediately receive work permits when released from custody 

• Green cards increased by 50,000/year 

• 5,000 illegal immigrants per day can be released into the US (Nearly 2 million a year or 150,000 a month). DHS can continue catch-and-release until border encounters average above 5,000/day in a seven-day period. 

• Restricts parole for illegal crossers — seemingly no changes to parole for those who present at ports of entry 

• Green cards for adult children of H-1B visa holders

CBS News has also reported that border talks have expanded in recent days to include Afghan evacuees. In exchange for these policy changes, Republicans would get tighter asylum laws, which means immigrants would have to meet a higher standard to qualify, and expedited deportations of families with children.

House Republicans have threatened both a partial government shutdown and to withhold funding from Ukraine and/or Israel until they get some movement on border security. Hence the Senate GOP sending Lankford in for negotiations. --->READ MORE HERE

AP Photo/Eric Gay, File

Senate border deal would allow 5,000 illegal immigrants a day:

Leaked details of deal spark revolt within GOP

Conservative activists are recoiling as details leak from the immigration deal being negotiated in the Senate suggesting illegal border crossers will be immediately eligible for work permits and the government will allow up to 5,000 illegal immigrants a day before expulsion powers take effect.

Negotiators have tightly guarded plans during their weeks of talks, but Rosemary Jenks, government relations director at the Immigration Accountability Project, said she has been briefed by multiple people familiar with the negotiations and has been sharing details online.

She said the current framework includes a right to government-funded attorneys for illegal immigrant children struggling through the immigration courts and an expansion of legal immigration, which are priorities of President Biden. In exchange, Republicans would win new limits on attempts to claim asylum and expanded speedy deportation powers but no significant new restrictions on The Homeland Security Department’s power to “parole” illegal immigrants directly into the U.S.

Ms. Jenks said the deal, based on those outlines, would do little to derail the unprecedented number of illegal immigrants pouring across the border.

“I think we’d be lucky if it didn’t increase,” she told The Washington Times. “There’s nothing in this that I have seen or been told about that stops catch-and-release.”

Her version of the bill has scorched through conservative circles, and activists are rallying to demand that the Republicans back out of the talks. Their chief target is Sen. James Lankford, the Oklahoma lawmaker serving as Republicans’ lead negotiator.

In a statement to The Times, the senator pleaded for patience. He said those attacking the deal haven’t seen the outlines.

“There are generational changes in border security laws that are included in the text being drafted. I would encourage everyone to read the bill when it comes out before they determine their opinion on something they have not even seen,” he said. --->READ MORE HERE

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