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Bloomberg

US senators released a bipartisan deal Sunday to impose new US immigration restrictions and unlock billions of dollars in Ukraine aid, a crucial step even as the measure faces long odds in the House.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell both back the US$118.3 billion compromise, with the Senate planning the first procedural vote on the measure on Wednesday.
But Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump vehemently opposes it, as do many House conservatives.
“Senators must shut out the noise from those who want this agreement to fail for their own political agendas,” Schumer said in a Sunday statement.

The deal, which includes US$60 billion for Ukraine, was negotiated over several months by Democrat Chris Murphy, Republican James Lankford and Independent Kyrsten Sinema.
It also includes US$20 billion for the border, US$6 billion more than the Biden administration requested.
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House Republicans could try to alter the deal more to their liking. Ukraine supporters like McConnell also could seek to attach aid to upcoming funding bills essential to keeping open the US government, if a border policy stalemate ensues.
President Joe Biden said he “strongly” supports the compromise, adding it would give him new authorities to “shut down” the border to stem migration. He also said the deal would make the asylum process “fairer and more efficient” and expedite work permits for those who qualify.
“If you believe, as I do, that we must secure the border now, doing nothing is not an option,” Biden said in a statement.
Trump’s strongest allies in the House swiftly dismissed the deal. House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York declared it “an absolute non-starter” that would “incentivise thousands of illegals to pour in across our borders daily”.
Under the proposal, the Department of Homeland Security would be able to turn away most asylum-seeking migrants at the border whenever encounters reach 4,000 daily for a week.
At 5,000 daily average encounters in a week – or 8,500 on any single day – the administration would be required to turn away migrants.

The threshold levels are far below current migration flows. US Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 302,000 total encounters along the US-Mexico border in December alone.
The bill would also make it harder to qualify for asylum in the US by tightening the criteria for a successful application based on credible fear of persecution and would limit the release of migrants into the country, keeping more border-crossers in detention or on a fast track to deportation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and many other Republicans demand more restrictive US immigration policies in exchange for approving the Ukraine aid. A Biden request for US$14 billion to assist Israel in its war in Gaza also has been delayed by the struggle over immigration.
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The Senate compromise includes funding for Israel. Johnson plans a vote this week on a US$17.6 billion Israel package without Ukraine aid attached, but ultraconservatives already oppose that measure.
Johnson, speaking earlier Sunday on Meet the Press on NBC, reiterated concerns that the Senate compromise, which he hadn’t yet read, isn’t strong enough.
The speaker is under pressure from ultraconservatives to accept only a House-passed wish list of immigration proposals, including completion of a border wall. Johnson did not immediately comment on the 370-page bill Sunday evening.

Trump has urged Republicans hold out for a “perfect” deal, an aggressive stance aimed at scuttling the effort.
That would make it easier for Republicans to keep pummeling Biden on an issue that resonates with voters.
Six in 10 swing-state voters say Biden bears responsibility for a surge in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll. The influx is straining the resources of Democratic strongholds like New York and Chicago.
Congressman Bob Good, chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, made clear he won’t accept any border compromise that gives “political cover” to Biden.
Record high border crossings have dogged Biden since he took office. There have been more than 6 million migrant encounters at the southwest border since fiscal 2021, though the authorities used a temporary pandemic-era legal power to expel migrants more than 2 million times.
The House plans to vote this week to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, setting up the first such action against a Cabinet member in nearly 150 years.
Republicans accuse Mayorkas, the first immigrant and first Latino to lead the department, of failing to enforce US immigration laws and breaching public trust.
The administration’s willingness to bargain with the Republicans on border and asylum restrictions has infuriated progressives and immigrants’ rights advocates who accuse the president of going back on his 2020 campaign promise to make the US immigration system more fair and humane.


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United States

US senators reach deal on Ukraine aid and border security, but hardline Republicans still a threat

Migrants wait to enter into El Paso, Texas, under the watch of the Texas National Guard. File photo: AP

The US Capitol in Washington. Photo: Bloomberg

US President Joe Biden. Photo: AP

Donald Trump has urged Republicans hold out for a ‘perfect’ deal. File photo: Reuters

US Congress passes bill to avert government shutdown, sends it to Joe Biden

Children race each other down the sledding hill at the US Capitol in Washington. Photo: AP

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Photo: Bloomberg

US House Speaker Mike Johnson. Photo: Reuters

US shutdown averted as Congress passes stopgap funding bill

The US Capitol in Washington. Photo: AFP

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Photo: Reuters

US Republicans advance Israel funding without Ukraine aid, defying Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walk through the colonnade to the Oval Office at the White House in September. Photo: Reuters

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to reporters in Washington on Thursday ahead of the debate and vote on supplemental aid to Israel. Photo: AP

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan says more strikes planned on Iran-backed groups

Members of an Iraqi Shiite militant group attend a funeral for the group members who were killed by a U.S. air strike, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Friday that the U.S. forces conducted airstrikes on more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and affiliated militia groups. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A member of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces stands guard at the gate of the paramilitary forces’ headquarters, between their logo and a portrait of slain leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, ahead of the funeral of people killed the previous day in US strikes in western Iraq. Photo: AFP

Members of an Iraqi Shiite militant group attend a funeral for the group members who were killed by a US air strike, in Baghdad. Photo: AP

Members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces stand guard. Photo: AFP

Iran warns US of targeting suspected spy ships in Middle East: ‘aggressors’ air strikes won’t go unanswered’

Young girls walk in front of a mural showing the Iranian national flag in the capital Tehran. The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran’s growing unease over the US strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic. Photo: AFP

A Yemeni Houthi fighter walks on the flags of Israel and the US during a rally. Photo: AFP

News

World

United States & Canada

Bipartisan compromise would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine and Israel, tighten US border laws
Proposed deal faces Republican resistance from Donald Trump’s strongest allies in the US House


Much-anticipated deal would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine and Israel while tightening US border laws – a crucial step even as the measure faces long odds in the House.
