Senators revealed a new border security deal Sunday that would give President Biden new powers to block illegal immigrants at the border, though only after the flow averages more than 4,000 migrants a day.
It also would try to speed hearings for those migrants that do still make it through so they don’t get years to burrow into communities.
Negotiators said the goal is to end the catch-and-release model the Biden administration has relied on to manage the chaos at the southern border, which has led to millions of new arrivals over the last three years.
The expansive deal would also expand legal immigration by 50,000 spaces a year, grant immediate work permits to illegal immigrants and create a special pathway to citizenship for the tens of thousands of Afghans brought out of Afghanistan during Mr. Biden’s disastrous 2021 troop withdrawal.
Those who negotiated the deal said it is a once-in-a-generation update to the country’s border controls, giving presidents new tools to try to stem what’s become a wholesale collapse of the current system.
“The current asylum system is outdated and overwhelmed, and our bill gets claims processed more fairly and more quickly,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, the Connecticut lawmaker who led negotiations for Democrats.