Republicans are poised to vote on legislation before the end of the week to address the problem of family separation at the border, even though it’s not yet clear what form the legislation will take.
“We need to pass legislation yesterday, or at least by the end of the week,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday.
Republicans who run the House and the Senate have been pressured to take up a measure that would end family separation that is required in part by a court ruling that prevents children from being held in immigration detention centers longer than 20 days. Families have been separated given that condition and the Trump administration’s push to prosecute all illegal immigrant adults who enter.
President Trump has said the only other option is to immediately release families once they are apprehended, in the hopes that they will return for an immigration hearing at a later date. Trump has called on Congress to end this “catch and release” policy and allow for prosecutions without separating families.
Republicans in both chambers have introduced bills that would make it legal to keep children at the border in facilities with adult family members who came with them illegally into the United States. But Democrats have vowed to oppose the legislation and in the Senate they have the power to block bills with a filibuster.
A bipartisan group of senators, led by Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., are trying to write a bill both sides can agree on, a process that Republican leaders are supporting.
“We are hopeful they can reach an agreement to deal with this real emergency issue,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “We have a pretty diverse group of people working together to try to get an outcome. I hope they can come together and we can get it done … before the end of the week.”
The House and Senate are not in session next week, which has increased the push to pass something this week.
Democrats have been clobbering the GOP politically over the family separation issue, noting that 2,000 illegal immigrant children remain split from their parents after Trump imposed his zero tolerance enforcement policy at the border.
A Senate Republican leadership aide said Cornyn may seek a vote on a GOP-written measure if the bipartisan talks fall through, as some expect they will.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he wants Trump to go back to the old policy of letting everyone go and suggested the Senate would not find a bipartisan solution. Republicans are standing by with their own legislation, which could get a Senate vote even if it is doomed by opposing Democrats.
A bill authored by Republican lawmakers, including Cornyn, would allow immigration officials to hold children and adult family members together at residential facilities on the border and put them at the head of the line for court hearings that will decide whether they qualify for asylum. The legislation would also provide an additional 200 immigration judges to help address a very significant backlog of cases.
Cornyn said returning to the “catch and release” program would be disastrous, according to border enforcement officials who told him it causes a spike in illegal immigration and human smuggling operations.
“Criminal organizations realize that if they can get people successfully here they’ve won and they can charge a lot of money for their services,” Cornyn said.
The House GOP has also authored legislation that would allow illegal immigrant children to remain at the border while speeding up immigration hearings.
The language is included in a broad immigration and border security bill that appears likely to fail Wednesday, but a standalone measure addressing the border issue could get a vote by the end of the week and could easily pass with a simple majority.
