Biden And Trump Trade Blame As Border Bill Falters

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are trading blame for the stalling of a bipartisan immigration bill.

The measure has already been rejected by House Republicans and is facing mounting Senate opposition.

Mr Biden said in a White House speech that his predecessor would “rather weaponise this issue” than solve it.

Mr Trump’s campaign said Biden policies were “causing death, destruction, and chaos in every American community”.

Supporters – including Democrats and Republicans in Congress – argue that the 370-page bill would stem the record-setting pace of undocumented immigrants at the southern US border.
If passed, the legislation would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on border wall construction.

It would also fast-track decisions on asylum cases, limit humanitarian parole, and expand the authority to deport migrants
The bill would allow the federal government to shut down the border when migrant crossings pass a threshold of 5,000 per week.

The $120bn (£95bn) includes about $20bn of US border funding, $60bn to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, and another $14bn in security assistance for Israel.

On Tuesday evening, House Republicans tried spinning off the Israel aid into its own $17.6bn (£14bn) package, but it failed to pass.

The party’s lawmakers also narrowly failed to impeach Mr Biden’s top immigration official, the homeland security secretary, over the border crisis.

“The world is watching,” Mr Biden said at the White House earlier in the day. “They are waiting and watching what we’re going to do. We can’t continue petty partisan politics.”

Still, the president conceded that “all indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor”, despite the support of the Border Patrol Union.

BBC