The Senate’s New Border Deal: Dead on Arrival?

Republican lawmakers in Congress are desperately distancing themselves from what could be their most pivotal accomplishment on immigration. The Senate Appropriations Committee unveiled details of a bipartisan agreement aimed at tightening border security. This comes after Republicans spent the last five months clamoring for a more punitive border policy as a prerequisite for increased military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Now, they’re portraying themselves as victims of their own plotting.

However, we find ourselves far from any semblance of political sanity, with the Republican Party embracing Trump as its raison d’être. Even before the deal was finalized, the former president voiced his opposition, insisting on an all-encompassing approach to border security. In his typical style, he left no room for negotiation, demanding a “perfect” border deal from Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

And Johnson quickly fell in line with Trump’s directives. He championed the House’s symbolic border measure, HR 2, despite its improbable prospects in the Senate and the White House. When the bipartisan Senate deal emerged, Johnson declared it “dead on arrival,” echoing Trump’s call for executive action on border policy.

This blame-shifting spectacle is emblematic of a Congress already notorious for its ineffectiveness. Presidents alone do not dictate border policy as evidenced by past efforts. Moreover, the argument for executive action is feeble, considering the failure of Trump’s own border policies to curb immigration.

The pending Senate deal, while touted as bipartisan, falls short of addressing the GOP’s immigration goals. Instead, it focuses on restricting asylum applications and allocating hefty sums to immigration enforcement agencies. Notably absent are provisions for Dreamers, despite their widespread support.

Yet for many Republicans, the deal’s cruelty is a itself a victory. The party’s political aspirations seek to emulate Trump’s behavior and bolster his prospects for reelection. His recent condemnation of the deal underscores the party’s commitment to xenophobic rhetoric as a cornerstone of its political strategy.