Senate Republicans will try to force through a series of border security measures Wednesday in a bid to highlight the growing surge of illegal immigration that appears to have overwhelmed the Biden administration.
The action will hold up the Senate floor for hours as GOP lawmakers attempt to pass five measures aimed at curbing the latest influx of thousands of illegal immigrants along the southern border.
The first measure, a resolution from Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, would declare a sense of the Senate “that the current influx of migrants is causing a crisis at the southern border.”
Republican aides point to poll numbers that show 76% of registered voters believe the southern border surge is a crisis that should be immediately addressed. President Biden and administration officials have been hesitant to declare it a crisis despite pictures showing significant crowding at intake facilities and reports of overwhelmed border officials and town governments in Texas where the migrants have been released.
“This shouldn’t be controversial,” a GOP aide said.
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The move comes as Biden scrambles to deal with the surge. He dispatched top officials to the border this week and ordered the State Department to run advertisements on Latin American radio stations aimed at discouraging people from attempting to migrate to the United States. U.S. officials will travel to Central American nations to address the violence, poverty, and other issues driving people to flee to the U.S. to seek asylum.
Republicans say Biden, who halted construction of the southern border wall, has incentivized illegal immigration and has made it easier by lifting Trump administration policies that had stemmed the flow of migrants.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, will follow Inhofe with a bill to close immigration law loopholes, especially those concerning unaccompanied minors, that the GOP says are worsening illegal immigration surges.
Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Ted Cruz of Texas will follow with three additional measures.
Democrats, who control the majority, are expected to block all five bills. But the GOP effort will take up floor time and spotlight the growing problem at the southern border, where intake facilities are far beyond capacity and border officials are releasing migrants into the U.S. without dates to face immigration judges.
Pro-immigration groups are denouncing the move.
“Once again, Republicans are failing to offer real immigration solutions, serving red meat to their base and proposing bills that will harm migrant children, separate families, and scapegoat immigrant communities,” Kerri Talbot, deputy director of the Immigration Hub, said.
Blackburn’s measure would require DNA testing to prove minors are related to the adults who may be trafficking them to gain entry into the U.S.
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Ernst’s measure would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants charged with a crime, and Cruz’s bill would increase criminal penalties for illegal immigrants repeatedly crossing into the U.S. after they are deported.
