Developments
Congress will adjourn for the weekend later today. And after next week, the Democratic-majority Senate is scheduled to take a two-week Presidents’ Day recess. (The Republican-majority House of Representatives will take a one-week recess after February 16.)
- “Burgess Everett @Burgessev on Twitter” (Twitter, January 31, 2024).
Meanwhile, there is no bill language yet from a small group of senators negotiating a deal that would restrict asylum access, to satisfy Republican demands to pass a package of Ukraine aid and other spending. The agreement is teetering as pathways to becoming law close off. “It’s not dead yet, but the writing’s on the wall,” a Republican senator told Punchbowl News’s Andrew Desiderio.
- Lauren Fox, Priscilla Alvarez, “Democrats Lean in on Border Security as Republicans Scuttle Deal” (CNN, January 31, 2024).
- Deirdre Walsh, Lexie Schapitl, “Senate Gop Split Threatens Bipartisan Border Deal as Trump Looms Large” (National Public Radio, January 31, 2024).
- Alex J. Rouhandeh, “Killing Border Deal Is ‘Terrible’ for Gop: Dem Campaign Chief Gary Peters” (Newsweek, January 31, 2024).
- “Andrew Desiderio @Andrewdesiderio on Twitter” (Twitter, January 31, 2024).
As discussed in a new WOLA commentary, media reports indicate that the deal would create a new Title 42-like authority to expel asylum seekers from the United States, with little to no chance to seek protection, when a daily average of migrant encounters exceeds a specific number (reportedly 5,000).
- Adam Isacson, “Five Questions and Answers About the Senate Border Deal” (Washington Office on Latin America, January 31, 2024).
Lead Republican negotiator Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) said that the group was “whisper-close” to releasing language, but that they were not ready to share it Wednesday. (Lankford is taking a lot of criticism from pro-Trump elements of his party for negotiating with Democrats.)
- “Camilo Montoya-Galvez @Camiloreports on Twitter” (Twitter, January 31, 2024).
- Anthony Adragna, Burgess Everett, Ursula Perano, “Lankford’s Make-or-Break Moment on the Border” (Politico, January 31, 2024).
Another negotiator, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), offered some new details about what the agreement contains as she sought to debunk rumors.
- Burgess Everett, “Sinema Rebuts ‘Misinformation’ About Bipartisan Border Deal” (Politico, January 31, 2024).
- Julie Tsirkin, “The Bipartisan Border Deal Would Not Allow 5,000 Illegal Crossings Per Day, Despite What Trump Says” (NBC News, January 31, 2024).
One of the main misconceptions is that the new expulsion authority would be triggered after 5,000 migrants per day were allowed into the U.S. interior: it would instead apply whenever Border Patrol apprehended that many people under any circumstances, even if most ended up deported or detained.
- Julie Tsirkin, “The Bipartisan Border Deal Would Not Allow 5,000 Illegal Crossings Per Day, Despite What Trump Says” (NBC News, January 31, 2024).
- Al Weaver, “Border Negotiators Fire Back at Conservative Critics” (The Hill, January 31, 2024).
In the House, Republicans opposed to the deal are digging in. They include Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who criticized elements believed to be in the Senate agreement, along with a broader attack on the Biden administration’s border and migration policies, in his first floor speech as speaker.
- Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson, Priscilla Alvarez, “Mike Johnson Stands by Opposition to Senate Immigration Deal and Biden’s Border Policy in First Floor Speech as Speaker” (CNN, January 31, 2024).
- Mychael Schnell, “Speaker Johnson Uses First Floor Speech to Hammer Biden on Border” (The Hill, January 31, 2024).
- Raquel Martin, “House Gop Rejects Bipartisan Border Deal” (Border Report, January 31, 2024).
- Justin Kounelias, “Trump All but Confirms He Told Johnson to Tank Border Deal” (Border Report, January 31, 2024).
The rightmost contingent of the Senate’s Republicans also attacked the deal at what The Hill called “a contentious lunch meeting in the Capitol Wednesday.” Reporter Alexander Bolton concluded, “the prospect of mustering 25 Senate GOP votes for the bill is dimming, raising the possibility that Republicans will abandon the effort altogether.”
- Alexander Bolton, “Gop Senators Wrestle Over Border Deal in Face of House Opposition” (The Hill, January 31, 2024).
- Daniel Marans, “Like Trump, Republican Senate Candidates Buck Bipartisan Border Deal” (The Huffington Post, January 31, 2024).
Politico reported that progressive Democrats, too, are beginning to line up against the Senate border deal.
- Nicholas Wu, Ursula Perano, “Democrats Risk a New Progressive Rebellion as Biden Embraces Border Deal” (Politico, January 31, 2024).
The House passed a bill, with 56 Democratic votes, that would mandate life sentences on migrant smugglers involved in high-speed pursuits near the border if anyone is killed during the chase.
- Jim Nintzel, Paul Ingram, “House Passes Ciscomani Bill to Punish Drivers Who Flee Bp, Cops Near Border” (The Tucson Sentinel (Tucson Arizona), January 31, 2024).
The chief of Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector tweeted that agents there apprehended 7,889 migrants in the week ending January 30. That is the fourth weekly increase she has reported in a row, up from 3,598 during the week ending January 9.
- “Chief Patrol Agent Patricia D. Mcgurk-Daniel @Usbpchiefsdc on Twitter” (Twitter, January 31, 2024).
A San Diego Border Patrol agent is under investigation after engaging in lewd behavior in a YouTube video while on duty near Jacumba Springs, California, near where hundreds of asylum seekers wait outdoors each day to turn themselves in to agents.
- Anna Giaritelli, “Uniformed Border Patrol Agent Who Exposed Himself to Youtuber and Porn Star Under Investigation” (The Washington Examiner, January 31, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
The disorder and neglect of the U.S. asylum and immigration-court systems are a big reason why migration is increasing at the U.S.-Mexico border, reads an analysis from Miriam Jordan at the New York Times.
- Miriam Jordan, “One Big Reason Migrants Are Coming in Droves: They Believe They Can Stay” (The New York Times, January 31, 2024).
The New York Times’s Karoun Demerjian and The Atlantic’s David Graham poked holes in House Republicans’ case for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
- Karoun Demirjian, “Impeachment Case Against Mayorkas Ignores Government’s Immigration Powers” (The New York Times, January 31, 2024).
- David A. Graham, “The Nonsensical Impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas” (The Atlantic, January 31, 2024).
In an interview at Slate, the American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick explains why there is no such thing as a presidential ability to “shut down” the border.
- Ben Mathis-Lilley, “So Many People Want Biden to “Shut Down” the Border to Stop Migration. There’s Just One Problem With This!” (Slate, January 31, 2024).
At the Washington Post, data journalist Philip Bump unpacked the new Republican talking point of referring to adult male migrants as “military-age males.”
- Philip Bump, “It’s Scarier to Refer to Immigrants as ‘Military-Aged Males’ Than ‘Men’” (The Washington Post, January 31, 2024).
At The Atlantic, Fernanda Santos positively reviewed an upcoming book about migration from New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer.
- Fernanda Santos, “America’s Immigration Reckoning Has Arrived” (The Atlantic, January 31, 2024).
On the Right
- Daniel Henninger, “The Republicans’ Border Crisis” (The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2024).