Tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine would be tied to an immigration crackdown under legislation that faces a test vote in the Senate this week.
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The deal would give President Biden discretionary authority to close the border if migrant encounters reach an average of 4,000 per day over a week.
Senate Democrats released an $118.3 billion emergency national security bill on Sunday that would tie a fresh infusion of aid to Ukraine to measures clamping down on migration across the United States-Mexico border.
The fate of measure, which has the backing of President Biden and Senate leaders in both parties, will turn on whether enough Republicans embrace its border security provisions — a long shot given the opposition of former President Donald J. Trump and House leaders who quickly denounced it on Sunday night as a nonstarter that does not crack down enough on migration.
The legislation will need bipartisan support to advance this week in the Senate, where it must draw at least 60 votes to advance in a test vote set for Wednesday.
Here’s a look at what’s in the 370-page bill:
Money for Ukraine, Israel, Palestinians and the border.
The bill includes $60.1 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel and $10 million in humanitarian aid for civilians of global crises — including Palestinians and Ukrainians.
It also would provide about $20 billion in border investments, including for hiring new asylum and border patrol officials, expanding the capacity of detention facilities and increasing screenings for fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
A border fail-safe.
One of the most significant changes to border policy would be the creation of a trigger that would effectively close the border to migrants trying to cross into the United States without authorization. The trigger would be tripped if the average number of migrants encountered by border officials exceeded 5,000 over the course of a week or 8,500 on any given day. Encounters would have to fall to a daily average of 75 percent of those thresholds, again over the course of a week, for affected intake processes to start up again.
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Source: nytimes.com
