C. Stewart Verdery Jr., a former George W. Bush official, said Republicans will regret striking down the bipartisan border security bill and wasting a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to enact a hardliner wish list preferred by border hawks.
Amid pleas for action from big-city Democratic mayors and blue-state Democratic governors, President Joe Biden recently ramped up his rhetoric on the border, pledging to close the U.S. border with Mexico if granted the ability by Congress.
Rather than seizing the chance to achieve a policy goal, House Republicans smacked down bipartisan border legislation despite polls showing that likely 2024 voters are increasingly concerned about immigration and security measures.
The GOP has been highly critical of the Biden administration’s enforcement priorities, but Republicans purposely crippled efforts to enact immigration reform measures that would allow Biden to shut down entry when facing high numbers, increase deportation, focus on foreigners deemed a public safety threat, and prioritize border security.
Instead, the House passed one bill that would have enabled undocumented migrants to be deported if they were caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol but they bungled an attempt to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
New Jersey lawmakers were divided on the immigration policy legislation, with most of the state’s representatives opposing the measure that would enable the deportation of undocumented migrants caught driving under the influence.
Two Democrats–Josh Gottheimer, widely regarded as a bag man for billionaires who has often spearheaded efforts to short-circuit his own party’s strategy, and conservative Blue Dog Mikie Sherrill– joined Republicans in supporting the bill.
Congressman Donald Norcross was one of seven House members not voting while Representatives Andy Kim, Robert Menendez Jr, Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Donald Payne, and Bonnie Watson Coleman opposed the deportation of undocumented migrants over driving violations.
This split underscores the complexities within the Democratic Party regarding immigration issues and reflects differing priorities and beliefs among legislators.
The measure passed with the support of 274 lawmakers, but 150 Democrats voted against it. The bill would make people who were charged with a DUI and are in the U.S. illegally automatically eligible for deportation and permanently inadmissible.
No issue illustrates the breakdown of governing and politics better than immigration. A broken immigration system has broken the governing process, aided by the most cynical of politicians.
Republicans recently continued what is now a decades-long streak of helping to scuttle bipartisan efforts to fix the immigration system, largely due to hard-right conservative opposition.
Republican opposition came at the request of former president Donald Trump, who showed that he prefers the political chaos to a policy solution. He was aided by House Republicans, who favored an immigration bill that had no chance of passing in the Senate.
“As part of a broader spending bill to provide assistance to Ukraine and Israel, the Biden administration proposed significant new funding for immigration enforcement along the southern border,” said Verdery, who served as assistant secretary for Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration and as general counsel to the Senate Republican Whip.
“When congressional Republicans proposed adding major changes to asylum standards and other provisions to crack down on the flow of undocumented migrants, for the first time in 20 years, congressional Democrats and a Democratic president agreed to support enforcement legislation without adding legalization provisions,” said Verdery.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that any agreement reached by the Senate would be dead on arrival after Trump told conservative radio host Dan Bongino that he wanted GOP lawmakers to oppose bipartisan immigration legislation so he could use the issue in his campaign.
Trump has assailed the proposal as a “betrayal of America” and said Republican senators could “blame it on me” if they get criticism from their constituents for voting it down the measure.
The GOP’s dedication to political gridlock has taken a surreal turn as party stalwarts are punishing lawmakers who do their jobs to address the grave concerns of their constituents.
GOP Sen. James Lankford was censured by the Oklahoma Republican Party for working with Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and Arizona independent Kyrsten Sinema to craft legislation intended to improve the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The immigration deal – which has been killed – would have made it harder for migrants to claim asylum, made it easier for U.S. officials to deport migrants who remained in the country illegally, expanded detention capacity, and added Border Patrol staff.
Under the package discussed in the Senate, the Department of Homeland Security would have the power to shut the border down when migrants seeking to cross without prior authorization exceed a daily average of 4,000 in a week.
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