Senate’s Long-Awaited Border Bill Released: Allocates $60 Billion to Ukraine But Only $20 Billion for U.S. Border Security

Senate leaders on Sunday released the details of a long-awaited comprehensive border security bill, which also contains a substantial foreign aid component.

The discussions, led by Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), and Chris Murphy (D-CT), come after months of negotiations with the Biden regime, seeking to address both the ongoing crisis at the U.S. southern border and foreign policy commitments abroad.

The 370-page deal, according to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, claims it reflects weeks of good-faith negotiations, balancing domestic concerns with urgent international aid needs.

“As Ukraine runs low on ammunition to fend off Putin’s brutal invasion, it is imperative we finally extend our support,” Murray said in a statement. 

As reported by The Gateway Pundit, the comprehensive $118.28 billion national security supplemental package, totaling $118.28 billion, allocates a staggering $60.06 billion to Ukraine in response to Russia’s aggressive military actions.

In contrast, U.S. border security efforts are earmarked to receive $20.23 billion. This disparity in funding allocation has raised eyebrows and sparked a debate over the Senate’s priorities at a time when domestic border security challenges persist.

According to Murray, the $118.28 billion national security supplemental package includes:

• $60.06 billion to support Ukraine as it fights back against Putin’s bloody invasion and protects its people and sovereignty.
• $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel.
• $2.44 billion to support operations in the U.S. Central Command and address combat expenditures related to conflict in the Red Sea.
• $10 billion in humanitarian assistance to provide food, water, shelter, medical care, and other essential services to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine, and other populations caught in conflict zones across the globe.
• $4.83 billion to support key regional partners in the Indo-Pacific and deter aggression by the Chinese government.
• $2.33 billion to continue support for Ukrainians displaced by Putin’s war of aggression and other refugees fleeing persecution.
• The bipartisan border policy changes negotiated by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and James Lankford (R-OK).
• $20.23 billion to address existing operational needs and expand capabilities at our nation’s borders, resource the new border policies included in the package, and help stop the flow of fentanyl and other narcotics.
• The Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.
• $400 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help nonprofits and places of worship make security enhancements.

RINO Senator James Lankford (R-OK) issued the following statement today:

“In the last four months, the US has had the highest number of illegal border crossings every month, with December hitting a US record of over 300,000 illegal crossings—averaging nearly 10,000 people per day. In December alone, almost 45,000 people crossing our southern border were given a work permit and parole status the day they arrived as a ‘reward’ for crossing at a port of entry, which only incentivizes more people to come.

“Our immigration hearings are backlogged for years, allowing millions of non-citizens to wander around our country. In the past three years, more than 8 million people have crossed our southern border illegally, costing our nation billions of dollars and bringing record levels of fentanyl, crime, and homelessness.

“Even if President Biden will not admit it, this is a crisis. We must secure our border now. It cannot wait any longer.

“Americans are not opposed to legal and orderly immigration, but they are tired of the chaos and abuse at our border. I am happy to announce, we have finally finished strong bill text to add to the supplemental funding bill. Though most members of the Senate have already been briefed on the contents of the bill, the final text will be distributed to members of the Senate soon and posted online within a day.

“The border security bill will put a huge number of new enforcement tools in the hands of a future administration and push the current Administration to finally stop the illegal flow. The bill provides funding to build the wall, increase technology at the border, and add more detention beds, more agents, and more deportation flights. The border security bill ends the abuse of parole on our southwest border that has waived in over a million people. It dramatically changes our ambiguous asylum laws by conducting fast screenings at a higher standard of evidence, limited appeals, and fast deportation.

“New bars to asylum eligibility will stop the criminal cartels from exploiting our currently weak immigration laws. The bill also has new emergency authorities to shut down the border when the border is overrun, new hiring authorities to quickly increase officers, and new hearing authorities to quickly apply consequences for illegal crossings. It changes our border from catch and release to detain and deport.

“Our immigration laws have been weak for years. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close our open border and give future administrations the effective tools they need to stop the border chaos and protect our nation.”

The proposed bill will grant the Secretary of Homeland Security unprecedented emergency powers to manage extraordinary migration events at the U.S. border. This new “border emergency authority” is specifically designed to respond to surges in migration that overwhelm existing border security and immigration processing capabilities.

The legislation sets clear thresholds for the activation of this emergency authority.

According to the summary of the bill, “The “border emergency authority” may be exercised if the 7-day average number of cumulative encounters of inadmissible aliens is between 4,000 and 5,000 per day and must be exercised if the 7-day average is above 5,000 per day. Exercise of the authority is also required if the number of encounters on a single day exceeds 8,500. Unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries are not included in the total number of encounters for the purposes of this section.”

Here’s how it works in simple terms:

• If, over a week, the average number of people showing up at the border without the right to enter is between 4,000 and 5,000 each day, the government can decide to use this special tool.
• If the average number goes above 5,000 people per day, then the government has to use it.
• Also, if on any single day more than 8,500 people show up without permission, the government must use this tool right away.

But there’s an important exception: kids who come to the border alone from countries that are not next to the US don’t count in these numbers.

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• When use of the emergency authority is authorized, the Secretary has the authority to prohibit the entry into the U.S. of all individuals, except unaccompanied minors, between ports of entry and may only screen individuals for eligibility for withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture. Concurrently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is required to continue processing a minimum of 1,400 inadmissible aliens per day across southwest land ports of entry under expedited removal or the 235B non-custodial removal proceedings contained in this title, ensuring that access to the asylum system remains available.
• Requires the Secretary to suspend exercise of the border emergency authority within 14 days of the 7-day average number of encounters falling below 75% of the total applicable encounter number which initially authorized the Secretary to exercise the border emergency authority.
• Provides that the authority shall not be activated for more than 270 days in the first calendar year, 225 days in the second calendar year, and 180 days in the third calendar year.
• Authorizes the President to suspend the border emergency on an emergency basis for up to 45 days if it is in the national interest.
• Provides that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has sole and original jurisdiction over any challenge arising from the Secretary’s authority to exercise the border emergency authority.
• Imposes a 1-year inadmissibility bar on any alien who has been removed two or more times pursuant to the border emergency authority.

This new bill will also provide work authorization: “Requires that an alien must first pass the elevated credible fear standard and the bars to obtain work authorization if the alien is released from custody after a positive credible fear screening. This provision does not create a right to release from detention, a right to work authorization for aliens who crossed the border illegally, or modify the employment authorization process for any alien who is not screened under the elevated credible fear standard. This provision changes current law, which allows for an alien to receive a work permit simply for applying for asylum without having a screening, to now require that an alien must first pass an elevated credible fear screening and all asylum bars – including the persecutor bar, criminal bars, terrorism bar, firm resettlement bar, and internal relocation bar – prior to obtaining work authorization. ”