Why the Ukraine Immigration and Aid Deal Failed in the US Senate

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans U.S blocked the bipartisan agreement on immigration and border security, which included the military aid package for Ukraine It is Israel. Although the pact was destined to fail in the Chamber of Deputies, there was an expectation that it would obtain the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to move forward.

He bill was negotiated by Democrats it’s from republicans for months with the president’s government Joe Bidenwho ended up giving in to pressure from the conservatives on the issue of security border with Mexico.

LOOK: Putin has a clear path to his fifth election: why was the only opposition rival left out?

The rule was so severe with the undocumented immigrants which has been heavily criticized by human rights organizations for contemplating the most restrictive changes to US immigration law in decades.

An unaccompanied minor is loaded into a United States Border Patrol van outside Eagle Pass, Texas, on February 4, 2024. (Photo by SERGIO FLORES/AFP). (SÉRGIO FLORES/)

The entire legislative package totaled $118.2 billion. Of that money, senators agreed to allocate more than $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine14 billion dollars for Israel and 4.8 billion for Taiwan. In addition, $10 billion would be allocated to humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and elsewhere. Another 20 billion dollars would be allocated to security on the border with Mexico.

The money for the border security contemplated the hiring of thousands of officers who would be in charge of evaluating the asylum requests to speed up the process, which can currently take up to 10 years.

The Senate agreement provided that the asylum process The response to the applicant should take six months. It would also make it more difficult for immigrants demonstrate that they are eligible to receive asylum. In case of those rejected, their deportation would be almost immediate.

Bed capacity would be increased in prisons in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detained immigrants.

Migration on the United States – Mexico border. (AFP).

He covenant gave to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the possibility of taking drastic measures, such as closing borders, if the daily average of border crossings reaches a certain number.

Additionally, call limits would be imposed humanitarian parolewhich allows people who are outside U.S request a temporary stay authorization in the country for urgent humanitarian reasons or for significant public benefit.

$1.4 billion would also be allocated to shelter-related programs, which have been overwhelmed in recent times due to the massive influx of migrants.

I was going to speed up. the granting of work permits to migrants who are already in the United States awaiting resolution of their asylum application.

Additionally, hundreds of new agents from the Border Patrol They would help stop the flow of fentanyl that enters the country through crossings with Mexico.

These and other measures failed when the Senate vote failed. The proposal received 49 votes in favor and 50 against.

US Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. (EFE/EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS). (MICHAEL REYNOLDS/)

Since late last year, Republicans have blocked a vital aid package for Ukraine for around 60 billion dollars. They don’t want to give the new game the green light before Biden does not harden border immigration controls. This entire discussion takes place in the context of the electoral campaign for the presidential elections in November this year in U.Swhere the Democrat will seek reelection and likely face donald trumpwho did the migration one of the strong themes of his speeches.

As the Republicans demanded, Biden agreed to include the border security in the packagebut it didn’t help get the green light for aid Ukrainewhich was his main objective.

On the same day the pact was revealed, donald trump began pressuring Republicans to drop him.

Former President of the United States Donald Trump. (Eduardo Muñoz Alvarez/POOL/AFP). (EDUARDO MUNOZ ÁLVAREZ/)

“Only an idiot, or a radical left Democrat, would vote for this horrible border bill that only gives closure authority after 5,000 interceptions per day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done” , he said. the tycoon

Furthermore, the leader of the House of Representativesthe republican michael johnsonHe immediately declared his opposition to the measure and announced that if it reached the Chamber it would be “dead”.

On Wednesday, a majority of Republicans voted against the deal, including those who initially supported it.

Only four Republicans voted in favor of the bill, including James Lankfordthe representative of this party in negotiations with the Democrats.

Until Mitch McConnellleader of the Republicans in the Senate, turned his back on the proposal.

On the part of the Democrats, five senators broke with their party’s position and spoke out against it. They did not agree with immigration restrictions.

The outcome of this story confirms the strong influence that trump in Republican leadership. It was enough for the tycoon to harshly criticize the pact for it to begin to fall apart.

US Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (EFE/EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS).

After the failure of the agreed law, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate Chuck Schumerproposed to save part of it, eliminating the immigration reform and maintenance of aid Ukraine and other allies.

On Thursday, the Senate voted in favor of advancing the amputation project, which would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan totaling $95 billion.

The vote was 67 in favor and 32 against. According to Telemundo, the next steps are now uncertain and it is not yet clear whether prosecutors will obtain the necessary votes for final approval.

US aid to Ukraine. (AFP).

“It’s a good first step. “This bill is essential to our national security,” he said. Schumer after the vote. “Not passing it would only embolden autocrats like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, who want nothing more than the decline of the United States. “We now hope to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues.”

Telemundo reported that senators prefer to finalize the aid package before the 15-day recess scheduled for next week. After that, Congress’ priority will be a deadline for government funding in early March.

If the project is approved in the Senate, it will go to the House of Representativeswhere prospects are uncertain.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officer watches as migrants board a Border Patrol van to be taken away for processing. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN/AFP). (FREDERICO J. BROWN/)

After the failure of the pact in the Senate, the president Biden There are some options for implementing border security measures to contain the high flow of migrants without having to go through Congressional approval.

According to Univision, Biden can imitate trump and impose a zero-tolerance policy at the border, utilizing the president’s executive authority. But the problem, as happened with the Republican, is that he exposes himself to legal action.

The main argument used by those who opposed the country’s immigration policy trump, indicates Univisión, was that the White House violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) that regulates the Executive Branch. The legislation stipulates that, before making a rule change, the new rule must first be published in the Federal Gazette and open space for public comments.

After that period, the government must accept the public’s recommendations and include them in a final rule that must also be published in the Federal Register before taking effect.

On Wednesday, NBC reported that the White House was considering taking executive action to dissuade and prevent foreign nationals from arriving at the southern border seeking asylum.

This outlet cited two Biden administration officials who told him that the use of presidential executive power would be a response to the failure of bipartisan negotiations in the Senate.

Source: Elcomercio