EXCLUSIVE — Senate Republicans released a border proposal on Monday that would tie funding for President Joe Biden's $106 billion supplemental to changes in immigration policy, including tighter restrictions for asylum and parole.
The supplemental, which includes tens of billions for Ukraine and Israel, addresses the border as well, requesting money to process migrants and hire new Border Patrol agents. But Republicans have dismissed the funding as a "fig leaf" that lacks the policy changes needed to stem record border crossings under Biden.
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A working group led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), James Lankford (R-OK), and Tom Cotton (R-AR) has spent weeks crafting a proposal to address those perceived shortcomings with sweeping changes to immigration law based on H.R. 2, House Republicans' signature border bill.
The release of the blueprint, shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner, represents an opening offer in negotiations over Ukraine as Republicans demand policy changes in exchange for their vote.
Senate Republicans are demanding the president restart border wall construction, something he paused upon assuming office. But the bulk of the proposal, a one-page summary circulated to the conference over the weekend, attempts to limit migrants' ability to enter or stay in the country once they are apprehended.
"The crisis at the southern border is a direct result of failed policies. The Senate Republican Working Group is presenting solutions to fix these failed policies, instead of simply throwing more money at the ever-worsening problem," reads the summary.
Under the blueprint, migrants become ineligible for asylum if they transited through a third country and must present themselves at a port of entry, as opposed to between land crossings, to qualify. The asylum screening standard for "credible fear of persecution" would also be raised from "significant possibility" to "more likely than not."
Humanitarian parole, which, unlike asylum, does not provide a direct path to citizenship, would be restricted under the proposal as well, directing the administration to use it rarely and only for aliens outside the United States. Grants of parole would be limited to one year or less.
The proposal would create a statutory authority similar to Title 42, which allowed the administration to suspend entry of certain migrants if deemed necessary to achieve "operational control" of the border. It would also require those in court proceedings to stay in a "contiguous" country if the Department of Homeland Security is unable to "detain or remove them to a safe third country."
The Democratic-run Senate has yet to release the legislative text for the supplemental that Biden requested in October, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already made clear that "serious" policy changes must be agreed to for the bill to go anywhere.
That, in part, reflects the mood of his conference, which is split between defense hawks and Ukraine skeptics. The latter see border reforms as an acceptable trade for the $61 billion Biden is requesting for the war-torn country.
But the changes will also be necessary to get the supplemental through the House, where Ukraine skeptics hold even greater sway due to Republicans' four-seat majority. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) himself has repeatedly voted against the aid.
The working group began border talks in earnest in September when Senate Republicans attempted a last-ditch effort to prevent a government shutdown by crafting language that would serve as a deal sweetener to House conservatives.
Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) decision to extend government funding without it, a move that precipitated his ouster, made that push moot. But the proposal, or some version of it, could prove decisive in this next funding fight.
Biden threatened to veto H.R. 2, which passed the House in May, but has signaled openness to a border compromise on Ukraine. The question becomes how the Senate GOP proposal must be amended for House Republicans and the White House to find it acceptable, if such a compromise can be found.
The blueprint would represent a dramatic overhaul of immigration policy. It has less controversial provisions, including overtime pay for Border Patrol agents, but the asylum changes will be difficult for Democrats to stomach.
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To reduce the administrative caseload posed by the surge in migrants, Biden has requested hundreds of additional immigration judges and asylum officers to screen claims, but Republicans want to go further, preventing "frivolous delays" by making the denial of an asylum claim "controlling" in court when a migrant subsequently raises asylum to avoid removal.
The proposal also lists a series of crimes, including DUIs and domestic violence, that disqualify asylum-seekers.