Progressives heap pressure on Democrats as border talks screech to halt

Progress on border talks has screeched to a halt as Democratic negotiators have come under intense pressure from progressives and immigration activists, further complicating potential passage of aid for Ukraine in the coming weeks.

Negotiators returned from the Thanksgiving break on an optimistic note, indicating that they had made progress on changes to asylum and that the ball was moving in the right direction. However, talks have become increasingly stagnant, especially as the drumbeat of concern from the left about the direction of talks has gotten louder, and pressure increases to unlock a supplemental deal that can reach President Biden’s desk. 

Democrats and progressives are upset that Republicans are attempting to chip away at the humanitarian parole authority of the Biden administration and view it as a total non-starter, especially if no action on behalf of Dreamers — those who were brought to the U.S. as children — is included in any deal.

“It’s a tough balance,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told The Hill. “The devil’s in the details.” 

“An expectation that we would give up any humanitarian parole program into the future — that’s not going to happen,” Kaine continued, noting that parole is how the U.S. has been able to help Ukrainians and Afghans affected by war and the takeover by the Taliban, respectively, in recent years. 

Leading the talks for Democrats are Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), the latter of which was part of the “gang of eight” who worked on comprehensive immigration reform a decade ago. The GOP is being led by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) is also heavily involved in discussions. 

Republicans have repeatedly sought to frame the talks as centering on the border rather than on immigration writ large and maintain they are trying to slow the number of migrants at the southern border in the name of national security.

But reports of potential curtailment to the asylum system have alarmed Democrats. 

Currently, those claiming asylum must claim a “credible fear” of being persecuted in their home country. That standard sits at any chance north of 10 percent, a figure Republicans are seeking to increase. 

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) last week led a group of 10 Senate Democrats who aired grievances over the direction of negotiations, saying they are “concerned about reports of harmful changes to our asylum system” and pointing to the lack of action for Dreamers.

They wrote that the bill could “fail to deliver any meaningful improvement to the situation at the border.”

“Using a one-time spending package to enact these unrelated permanent policy changes sets a dangerous precedent and risks assistance to our international partners,” warned the 10 senators, a group that included Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat. “We cannot truly secure our border and help American communities without increasing lawful pathways for migration and legalizing long-time undocumented immigrants who put food on our tables, care for our elderly, and form the fabric of our communities.”

Part of the concern for some Democrats is that the group lacks any Hispanic representation, with all the negotiators involved being white. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was a member of the 2013 “gang of eight” but is not part of the talks after being indicted on federal bribery charges in September. 

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) noted as much and said the level of concern has intensified over the possibility of Democrats giving away too much in order to secure aid for Ukraine and other items. 

“Everyone’s speaking up, absolutely. You can hear it directly from the advocates,” Luján said. 

Adding to the troubles for negotiators is the push by conservatives to adopt as much of the House GOP’s signature border bill, H.R. 2, as possible. That was the message Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) delivered to a Senate GOP luncheon last week, creating a tug of war between the two sides. 

Democratic negotiators have tried to assure those in their party that any final product will in no way resemble the conservative proposal that they consider a non-starter. 

“There’s a mythology inside the Republican caucus that they are somehow going to get H.R. 2 out of this. That is not happening,” Murphy said. “It would be a cataclysmic mistake by Republicans to let [Russian President] Vladimir Putin march into Europe because they’re throwing a temper tantrum over not getting their perfect version of border reform.”

The Connecticut Democrat added that the state of discussions was “no different” Thursday but that senators planned to continue to meet and talk while underscoring the complexity of any potential accord.  

“This is a difficult deal to land,” he added.