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Border Deal by 2 in G.O.P. Lifts Chances of Immigration Bill Border Deal by 2 in G.O.P. Lifts Chances of Immigration Bill
(about 7 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Two Senate Republicans reached an agreement on Thursday on a plan to strengthen border security with the bipartisan group of eight senators that drafted an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, raising hopes that the new deal could build Republican support for the immigration legislation being debated on the Senate floor. WASHINGTON — The prospects for Senate approval of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws improved on Thursday after two Senate Republicans worked out a deal on a plan to strengthen border security with the bipartisan group of eight senators that drafted the original bill, raising hopes that the new agreement could build Republican support for the immigration legislation.
The deal, according to aides with knowledge of the discussions, will call for what was described as a “border surge” that nearly doubles the current border patrol force to 40,000 agents from 21,000, as well as the completion of 700 miles of fence on the southern border. The additional border agents, an aide said, would cost roughly $30 billion. Details of the agreement were to be announced later Thursday. The expected endorsement of the proposal by several Senate Republicans would be a significant boost to the measure, which backers hope to push through the Senate by the end of next week. The deal calls for a “border surge” that nearly doubles the current border patrol force to 40,000 agents from 21,000, as well as for the completion of 700 miles of fence on the nation’s southern border. The additional border agents, the senators said, would cost roughly $25 billion.
The two Republican senators, Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven of North Dakota, have been working behind the scenes over the past few days to come up with a provision that would appease hesitant Republicans and help garner broad bipartisan support for the bill. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and one of the deal’s architects, said he expected that his provision could attract the support of roughly 15 Republicans for the legislation, which includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants already in the country. Those Republican votes would be a significant boon to the measure, which backers hope to push through the Senate by the end of next week.
“It is a very straightforward way to secure our border and to do so before allowing a pathway to legal permanent residency for those who came here illegally,” Mr. Hoeven said Thursday, explaining the deal on the Senate floor. “Simply put, we must secure the border first. That’s what Americans demand, and that’s what we must do to get comprehensive immigration reform right. That’s what this legislation does, and it does it with objective and verifiable metrics.” If nearly all Senate Democrats vote for the bill, as aides now expect, the additional Republican support would not only ensure the bill’s passage through the Senate, but that it passes with nearly 70 votes and bipartisan momentum as it heads to the Republican-controlled House.
Their amendment, Mr. Hoeven added, would provide “more manpower, more fencing, more technology.” “We must do more to secure the border in this legislation, and that’s exactly what we’re offering today,” said Senator John Hoeven, Republican of North Dakota and Mr. Corker’s partner in drafting the border provision, explaining the deal on the Senate floor. “It is a very straightforward way to secure our border and to do so before allowing a pathway to legal permanent residency for those who came here illegally.”
The two senators briefed their Republican colleagues at a party lunch, and afterward said they were heartened by the positive response. Their push to strengthen border security, they said, was given a boost by a Congressional Budget Office report released Tuesday that found that the current bill — without any additional border security provisions — would decrease annual illegal immigration by only 25 percent. Their amendment, Mr. Hoeven added, will provide “more manpower, more fencing, more technology.”
“I don’t know what the hell is going to happen,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, “but we’re on the verge of doing something dramatic on the border, and if it happens it will be due to Hoeven and Corker and a lot of our colleagues.” The Corker-Hoeven proposal will also include a $3.2 billion high-tech border surveillance plan — including drones, infrared ground sensors and long-range thermal imaging cameras — and require both an electronic employment verification program for all employers and a visa entry/exit system at all air and seaports, in order to limit immigrants who overstay their visas.
Mr. Graham, a member of the bipartisan group that drafted the original legislation, served as the group’s conduit to Mr. Corker and Mr. Hoeven to ensure that their provision was acceptable to both Democrats and Republicans. Mr. Corker and Mr. Hoeven had been working behind the scenes over the past week to come up with a provision that would appease hesitant Republicans and help garner broad bipartisan support for the bill. Their breakthrough came on Wednesday, after a Congressional Budget Office report released Tuesday found that the current bill — without any additional border security provisions — would decrease annual illegal immigration by only 25 percent.
The Corker-Hoeven proposal would be an alternative to an amendment introduced by Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. Mr. Cornyn’s plan would create strict goals that would need to be met before more than 11 million undocumented immigrants could start on the path to citizenship and attain legal status, including a 90 percent apprehension rate of illegal crossers at the southern border and a biometric exit system at all airports and seaports. Originally, the Corker-Hoeven plan would have also required a 90 percent effectiveness rate in apprehending or turning back illegal border crossers, something to which Democrats objected because they believed it was a hard-to-achieve moving target. On Tuesday, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and an author of the original bill, received calls from both Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, and President Obama — calling from Air Force One, in the middle of his overseas trip — to reiterate that the 90 percent figure was unacceptable.
Democrats consider Mr. Cornyn’s plan a “poison pill” that is logistically hard to achieve and could indefinitely delay citizenship for those covered by the measure. The budget office report, however, offered some additional breathing room on the 90 percent disagreement. The analysis found that the immigration bill would lower the federal budget deficit by $197 billion in the first 10 years after the law goes into effect; Leon Fresco, Mr. Schumer’s immigration counsel, noted that some of those savings could be redirected to further strengthening border security.
Originally, Mr. Corker and Mr. Hoeven were considering a provision that would have required a 90 percent effectiveness rate in apprehending or turning back illegal crossers, using a combination of conventional border infrastructure, like fencing and observation towers, and high-tech elements including heat-sensing cameras and drones. Though the security measures outlined in the Corker-Hoeven plan must be in place before any immigrant can qualify for legal status, the group agreed to scrap the effectiveness requirement, in exchange for a series of heightened border security concessions made possible by the new funds.
“It has to be measurable, objective metrics so we know the border is secure and so that folks feel that it’s attainable and we can agree that we have a secure border,” Mr. Hoeven said. “We’re trying to come up with something where we can get Republicans and Democrats to agree on.” “What we’ve done is change the paradigm away from something that is more subjective to something that is very tangible and every American can see and understand,” Mr. Corker said Thursday.
Democrats, however, still objected to the 90 percent trigger linking border security to a pathway to citizenship, and on Wednesday, Mr. Corker said they had “come up with a solution.” Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and an author of the original bill, had been adamant about bolstering the southern border fence, and was pleased that the deal now included 700 miles of fencing — up from the 350 miles they were originally considering.
According to aides with knowledge of the discussions, the Republicans agreed to make the 90 percent figure a goal rather than a requirement, in exchange for a detailed border security plan that lays out serious assurances of both manpower and resources at the southern border. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, Republican members of the bipartisan group, were tapped to round up Republican support for the bill. Talking to a colleague on the Senate floor, according to an aide, Mr. Graham, an Air Force reservist, noted the enhanced border security measures, explaining, “This is the equivalent of adding three or four regiments to the border.”
“Unprecedented deployment of boots on the ground and commitment to the fence,” explained an aide close to the talks, speaking anonymously to talk candidly about continuing private discussions. The aide added that the Corker-Hoeven provision would go even further in terms of adding border patrol agents than Mr. Cornyn’s plan, which required an additional 5,000. “I am very hopeful and optimistic that this will be seen as a major game-changing effort to secure the border and will be enormously helpful to the bill,” he said. “Literally, it will almost militarize the border as a surge.”
“What we’re talking about is basically a dramatic effort to secure the border that would just in most people’s minds be substantial,” Mr. Graham said, when asked how the group had managed to reach an agreement on the 90 percent figure. The agreement was presented Wednesday night, with Mr. Schumer calling Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff. “I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with this,” Mr. Schumer began.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, who helped write the bill, called the day’s talks “really productive.” The Corker-Hoeven proposal provided an alternative to a proposal offered by Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. Democrats considered Mr. Cornyn’s plan, which includes a 90 percent apprehension rate of illegal crossers at the southern border, a “poison pill” that is logistically hard to achieve and could indefinitely delay citizenship for those covered by the measure. After the other agreement was reached, the Senate voted Thursday to set aside Mr. Cornyn’s amendment, 54 to 43.
“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 24 hours,” he said. “Now we have some vetting to do with our respective allies.” Meanwhile, several Republicans on Thursday announced their support for the immigration legislation, as long as it includes the Corker-Hoeven border security plan. Senator Mark S. Kirk, Republican of Illinois and co-sponsor of the provision, said in a statement, “I will be proud to vote for a bill that secures our border and respects our heritage as an immigrant nation.”
Mr. Corker and Mr. Hoeven were still finalizing the plans for their provision Wednesday. They could introduce it separately, but they are also working to create a broader border security package of amendments that would include not only their proposal, but also those of other Republicans, including Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, and Rob Portman of Ohio. And Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, briefly joined a news conference Mr. Corker and Mr. Hoeven were holding, and said that he, too, was signing onto the amendment — and, with it, most likely the overall bill.
In addition to the Corker-Hoeven proposal and Mr. Cornyn’s plan, several other Republicans are likely to offer border security measures of their own. Calling himself “one of the skeptical senators,” Mr. Heller said, “There are a lot of us who wouldn’t have come along if these two guys hadn’t worked as hard as they did to put this package together.”
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, another of the bill’s authors, is working on a plan that would allow Congress to write its own border security plan, rather than turning the responsibility over to the Department of Homeland Security. Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, is also considering a border enhancement provision.
On Wednesday, as senators worked through several other amendments to the bill, the Senate voted 61 to 37 to table a border security plan by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky. Mr. Paul’s amendment would have created a series of stricter border security requirements and required Congress to vote every year for five years that it believed the border was secure, before immigrants could continue on their path to legalization.
The Corker-Hoeven provision was expected to attract the support of 8 to 12 Republicans, according to some estimates.
“We’ve got to see how many people this brings to the table,” Mr. Corker said. “We’d like for it to go over to the House with momentum.”