Border Patrol union endorses Senate immigration deal

The National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents agents around the country, has come out in support of the newly released bipartisan Senate border deal. Council President Brandon Judd said it will give agents new authorities that they have not had in the past, giving undecided lawmakers a key nod of approval.

“This will allow us to remove single adults expeditiously and without a lengthy judicial review which historically has required the release of these individuals into the interior of the United States.” Judd said in a statement. “This alone will drop illegal border crossings nationwide and will allow our agents to get back to detecting and apprehending those who want to cross our borders illegally and evade apprehension. While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo. This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said she was proud to have the endorsement. Sinema, along with Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., were the principal negotiators of the bill. 

“There is a crisis at our border, and our bipartisan border security package fixes it,” Sinema said. “Now, senators must make a decision: pass our package and solve the crisis or accept the status quo, do nothing, and keep playing politics while our system breaks and our communities continue to suffer.”

The new Senate border deal is a 280-page makeover of the country’s asylum, work authorization, and immigration adjudication system.

The bill has the support of the president, Senate leaders from both parties and House Democratic leadership. However, it appears to be doomed to fail because House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called it “dead on arrival” in his chamber, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who is in charge of scheduling votes, said it will not receive one.

Here’s the full text of the bill and a summary.

Here’s just a small glimpse of what’s in it.

On asylum 

• The bill raises the credible fear standard for asylum-seekers and allows those who pass that new, higher bar to receive a work permit.
• The bill requires those cases to be fully decided within 6 months. Currently, it takes years for those cases to be decided. 
• It also takes into consideration whether the applicant could have moved within their own country to find safety or moved somewhere other than the United States. 

New Border Emergency Authority

• The bill creates a Border Emergency Authority that requires DHS to shut down the border and immediately deport all new arrivals if Border Patrol encounters reach a one-week average of 5,000 per day.
• Below that threshold, single adults would be detained, while families would be released. 

General border security provisions

• The bill provides $650 million to build and reinforce miles of new border wall.
• It ends the Biden administration’s use of the CBPOne app to facilitate parole and work authorizations.

Foreign aid 

The bill would provide:

• $60.6 billion for Ukraine.
• $4.8 billion in military support for the Indo-Pacific region.
• $14.1 billion for Israel.