Policy Brief: Updates on the fight to #SaveAsylum

For two months, the White House and three Senators, Republican Sen. James Lankford, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, have engaged in secretive, closed-door negotiations over a series of sweeping and restrictive border proposals that would be offered in exchange for temporary aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

This border supplemental deal is reported to be in the final stages of negotiations, with the bill text anticipated to be released and voted upon by the Senate as soon as next week. Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers in the House have said the bill is a nonstarter because they are pushing for even tougher restrictions and stricter changes to asylum. 

While much is still unknown about the border supplemental’s content, the proposals reported by news outlets and the language offered by President Biden promising to “shut down the border” are alarming and harken back to the cruelty of the Trump-era policies. The most recent reports preview anti-immigrant proposals that would gut our asylum system, expand detention, and expel vulnerable people to danger.  

The Young Center has been participating in direct actions and knocking on doors in Congress to reject these proposals, which threaten children’s safety and risk the unity of immigrant families. Congress must not compromise the well-being of children and must stand firm to #SaveAsylum in the ongoing funding negotiations.