WASHINGTON – Leading Senate Republicans are warning their House colleagues not to play political games with them. current immigration negotiations because they won’t get a better deal during a potential second Donald Trump presidency.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, RSC, told reporters on Wednesday: “If President Trump wins, I hope to those who think we can get a better deal. “You need to get 60 votes in the US Senate.”
“To my Republican friends: Getting this kind of border security without allowing for citizenship is truly unheard of. So if you think you’re going to get a better deal next time, in the 25th year, if President Trump becomes president, Democrats are going to be waiting for a path to citizenship for that,” he said. “So to my fellow Republicans, this is historic for border reform. it’s a moment.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, RS.D., echoed Graham’s sentiment.
“If we have to get 60 votes in a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, the Democrats won’t give us anything close to that,” he said. “We have a unique opportunity here. And the time is right to do it.”
The pleas from Republicans come as senators express growing optimism that they are on the verge of reaching a bipartisan deal on tougher asylum and border laws they have been negotiating for months, and uncertainty over whether the GOP-controlled House will pass a resolution. accept it.
The emerging Senate package is expected to raise the bar for asylum seekers to come to the U.S., give border controls more powers to remove migrants and limit the use of parole for some migrants while they wait for their cases to be processed.
Graham noted on Wednesday that the latter is the main challenge that remains, although it has not yet been finalized.
“If we don’t fix parole, there will be no deal,” he said.
While a potential Senate compromise has yet to be signed, hard-right House Republicans have threatened to kill a deal designed to unlock support for new US aid to Ukraine.
“There is no compromise on our border security,” he said. “The situation will be better during the Trump administration. we’ll bring it back’Stay in Mexico.’ And we will go to deport illegal foreigners.”
Greene said he would personally file a “motion to vacate” and force a vote to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson if he cuts the deal to fund Ukraine, regardless of what immigration provisions are in place. “We cannot finance Ukraine,” he said, adding that “it is absolutely forbidden – it would be a reason to bail.”
Some conservatives in the House of Representatives do not want to give President Joe Biden a victory on an issue like immigration. politically sensitive Heading into a possible rematch with Trump this fall.
“The worst thing we can do is pass border security in name only, similar to what is said to be the Majorca-Lankford deal,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Goode said, referring to ongoing negotiations in the Senate. with the wildly unpopular Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the right. “It would be terrible because it would not win for the American people, it would not secure the border, and it would give Democrats political cover for the border crisis they deliberately created.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C., said it would be “immoral” to reject the deal for partisan reasons. “You are not knowingly making this country any less safe for political reasons.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., repeated warnings that even if Republicans won full control of the government, they would not be able to get a single Democratic vote for such a deal.
“One of the things I keep reminding my members is that if we had a 100% Republican government — president, House, Senate — we probably wouldn’t get a single Democratic vote to pass the Senate. [James] Lankford and the administration are trying to come together,” he told reporters. “So this is a unique opportunity to get something done in a divided government.”
Johnson, who previously said the House would not pass anything but the HR immigration package passed by Republicans, said Wednesday that all “elements” of the bill are important and did not close the door on the Senate package before considering it. .
“We don’t know exactly what the Senate came up with because we haven’t seen the text. We can’t wait to see the text of what they do,” Johnson said at a press conference.
Rebecca Kaplan, Julie Tsirkin, Lori Rampani and Kate Santaliz contributed.