Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, center, speaks during a news conference on border security and funding on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, as Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., right, and Rep. Andrew Ogles, R-Tenn., left, listen in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Supplemental Bill that is supposed to resolve the humanitarian and political crisis on the southern border with Mexico is “an unmitigated disaster,” according to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Lee isn’t alone in expressing that opinion of the $118.3 billion package released by Senate negotiators with much fanfare on Feb. 5. Once the fine print of the measure was disclosed, at least 17 Republicans, two Democrats and one Independent senator join Lee in denouncing it.
The bill – which Senate leaders insist is the only chance in the near future to address immigration policy in a comprehensive way — goes too far for some Democrats and falls short for many Republicans.
“This proposed border deal will not secure our border,” Lee said emphatically. “Passing it into law would worsen the border crisis.”
Lee insisted that passage of the Senate proposal would codify many of the current abuses of the Biden administration’s border policies.
Internet posts from one of the chief Senate authors of the proposal seem to confirm that statement.
In a post to his constituents over X (formerly Twitter), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) boasted that the border would “never close” and promised that illegals seeking asylum would be provided legal representation at taxpayer expense.
The proposal would also unlock tens of billion of dollars in foreign aid for the Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, a step that many Republican support. But Lee and others object to the provisions of an alleged overhaul of U.S. immigration policy at the southern border.
Members adding their voices to Lee’s in the Senate include Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Jim Risch of Idaho; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; and, Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Even Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a strong supporter of aid to Ukraine, is leery of the Senate proposal.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also opposes the supplemental bill, according to the inside-the-Beltway journal Roll Call, due to its proposed aid to what he calls the Israeli war machine.
In his critique of the 370-page bill, Lee lists 12 reasons why the proposal will not secure the southern border, which he calls “ … the dirty dozen disasters in the so-call border deal.”
According to Lee, the proposal would codify the Biden policy of “catch and release,” giving the Secretary of Homeland Security unchecked authority to release illegal aliens in the United States.
The Senate bill would also allow up to 1.8 million illegal aliens to enter the U.S. annually (an average of 5,000 a day) before temporarily closing parts of the border.
The proposal would also fund sanctuary cities and non-governmental organizations to the tune of $3.7 billion ($1.4 billion for shelter, transportation, legal advice and other services for illegal aliens and $2.3 billion for refugees).
As Murphy crowed, the Senate bill would also subsidize free, taxpayer-funded legal counsel to certain categories of illegal aliens.
Lee charges that the proposal would do nothing to limit President Joe Biden’s abuse of parole privileges, but would in fact expand them.
The Senate bill would hurt American workers by increasing the number of green cards issued by the federal government by 50,000 for five years (32,000 family-based permanent resident cards and 18,000 employment-based cards).
The proposal would also hurt American workers by providing indefinite work permits to an estimated 250,000 adult children of non-immigrant visa holders who will compete for jobs with recent college graduates.
Under the Senate bill, every illegal alien who passes the initial asylum credible fear screening criteria will immediately be eligible for a work permit.
Lee further condemns the proposal for doing nothing to deport aliens who have entered the country illegally and creates a path to citizenship for more than 60,000 poorly-vetted Afghans who entered the country as a result of Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Senate bill would also weaken asylum screening by empowering officers of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to grant asylum status without a ruling by an immigration judge.
Finally, due to a budgetary gimmick, the proposal would provide no new funds to built the border wall with Mexico until Fiscal Year 2028.
Given the already announced and growing opposition to the $118.3 billion proposal, its chances of passage in the Senate are slim without significant changes and even less likely in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
“This bill is even worse than we expected. It won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe President Biden has created,” according to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival.”