Deeply entrenched battle lines have been drawn in the sand in the days since Senate negotiators released their bipartisan border deal endorsed by President Joe Biden.
On one side lies the president and more establishment lawmakers, while on the other lies former President Donald Trump and his House Republican allies. The Senate bill, which was released on Sunday, has seen fierce rebukes, as well as high praise, from those on both sides.
It’s likely a preview of how divisive the topic of immigration will be come November, as voters are already signaling deep concerns about the state of the southern border.
In a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released last month, about 35% of voters listed immigration as their top concern, with inflation coming in at 32%. Immigration also overtook voter’s concern over the economy, with just 25%.
With the Senate bill, negotiators sought to address voters’ concerns over the handling of the southern border as well as providing aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. The negotiations, which have been ongoing for months, culminated in a $118 billion agreement.
But, just two days after the deal was released, a flood of senators, including at least three Democrats, have announced their intent to vote against the measure. And in the House, Republican leadership has already pledged that the bill would be dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, Trump has openly accused Biden of “laying a trap” for Republicans heading into November and all but daring Republican lawmakers to side with Biden and risk conservative excommunication.
“The ridiculous ‘Border’ Bill is nothing more than a highly sophisticated trap for Republicans to assume the blame on what the Radical Left Democrats have done to our Border, just in time for our most important EVER Election,” Trump stated on Truth Social on Monday. “Don’t fall for it!!!”
“Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done. This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party,” he said in a post from earlier in the day. “It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans. Don’t be STUPID!!! We need a separate Border and Immigration Bill. It should not be tied to foreign aid in any way, shape, or form! The Democrats broke Immigration and the Border. They should fix it. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Trump’s opposition to the bill comes as no surprise. In polls, voters routinely say that they trust Trump and Republicans more to oversee border security. Biden, meanwhile, scores just 29% approval on average concerning his handling of immigration in seven polls conducted since Jan. 1.
On the other hand, Democratic campaign operatives tell the Washington Examiner that Republicans run a very real risk of angering immigration hawks in their base should they not sign onto Biden’s bill, legislation that includes new funding for border officials, fentanyl detection equipment, and would shut down the border under Title 42-like authority whenever the rolling weekly average for illegal border crossings exceeds 5,000 immigrants per day.
Democrats across both chambers have by and large coalesced behind the bill, with Biden himself praising the agreement and saying he “strongly” supported the bill in a statement on Feb. 4.
“Like President Biden stated, this bill includes some of the toughest, but fairest, immigration reforms ever considered by Democrats,” one operative familiar with Biden’s campaign strategy said. “Trump is almost right here. Republicans will look like hypocrites if they continue to reject a good-faith attempt to fix our broken immigration system, and voters won’t forget that next election.”
“While President Biden presses ahead with the same mainstream values he has always fought for — a secure border, treating migrants with dignity, and repairing a broken immigration system — Speaker Johnson just wildly reversed the position he’d held for 6 years in an attempt to block a bipartisan border security deal in the name of politics,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates added in a statement.
Still, Biden himself has notably changed his tone and rhetoric while discussing the border crisis since entering office, and his recent overtures on the subject, coupled with the unmitigated humanitarian disaster currently on display in Gaza, risk further alienating liberal voters who counted on the president to reverse his predecessor’s stricter immigration policies.
In early January, Biden began telling reporters and Republicans that he was prepared to “shut down the border” by signing the Senate-negotiated bill into law, a set of policies he referred to as the “toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades.”
And the president again claimed Tuesday that Trump is openly intimidating Republicans not to vote for the bill.
“Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically. Therefore, he doesn’t — even though it helps the country, he’s not for it,” he stated during remarks delivered at the White House. “He’d rather weaponize this issue rather than solve it. For the last 24 hours, he’s done nothing, I’m told, but reach out to Republicans in the House and Senate and threaten them and try to intimidate them to vote against this proposal, and it looks like they’re caving.”
“Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine and do what they know to be right,” Biden concluded. “Republicans have to decide: Who do they serve? Donald Trump or the American people? Are they here to solve problems or just weaponize those problems for political purposes? I know my answer. I’m here to solve problems.”
Not all Democrats are happy with the agreement, however, and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) claimed the agreement “misses the mark.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, claimed that Biden’s bill shows the president and even Senate Democrats are “declining to stand up and defend immigrant communities.”
“I’m a supporter of the president, but I think that he made a big mistake with that statement,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) added of Biden’s stated plan to shut down the border. “The president’s statement reflects not just bad policy, but bad politics.”
