When Sen. Roger Marshall went back to Kansas over Thanksgiving, he said he took his grandkids sledding and saw old friends. But everyone he talked to was worried about the southern border, he said on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Kansas, the heartland, the middle of the country, the middle state, people are concerned about their own safety and security,\u201d Marshall, a Kansas Republican, said last week.<\/p>\n
As Senate Republicans are pushing for Congress to pass stiffer immigration policies in the final weeks of the year \u2014 limiting asylum claims, preventing people who cross the border illegally from being paroled into the U.S. and constructing a stronger barrier at the border \u2014 Marshall has used a common refrain: \u201cBorder, border, border.\u201d<\/p>\n
Congress has failed to make a serious effort to address immigration policy for more than a decade. In the meantime, illegal crossings at the Southwest border have increased by 42% since 2021, creating a political and humanitarian crisis throughout the southwest.<\/p>\n
The latest effort to address the issue comes in the form of a blockade. Republicans say they will only support a $110 billion bill to send military and humanitarian aid to Israel and Ukraine \u2013 along with money for the southern border and military efforts to combat China\u2019s growing power in the Pacific \u2013 if it includes immigration reform. The GOP conference plans to vote against a spending package without immigration reform Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It comes as a growing contingent of Republicans are pushing back against providing money for Ukraine\u2019s nearly two-year effort to beat back a Russian invasion as it\u2019s settled into a stalemate \u2013 effectively bolstering congressional support for military aid through the longstanding conservative goal of imposing stricter immigration law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s because [Republicans] really want to vote for Ukraine so badly, they\u2019ve got to say something to excuse their vote,\u201d said Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, who has long opposed funding for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Democrats say the Republican immigration demands are too extreme and are bogging down the military aid bill, making America look weak amid threats to democracy overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis mess was created entirely by hard right Republicans and alarmingly, Republican leadership has gotten behind them,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. \u201cAnd most of those hard right Republicans, who say we must have border [reform], don\u2019t want to vote for aid for Ukraine in any case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marshall is among the hard-line Republicans who oppose Ukraine aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he knows that,\u201d Marshall said, responding to Schumer\u2019s comment that he wouldn\u2019t vote for aid. \u201cI think that he\u2019s making a pretty huge assumption. I do think it\u2019s about priorities. There\u2019s gonna be no discussion about Ukraine up here until we secure a border.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Hawley has opposed aid to Ukraine from the beginning, Marshall originally supported the packages. But as the base of the Republican Party soured on sending additional money to the country, so has he.<\/p>\n
But Marshall supports funding for Israel \u2014 he twice tried to force the Senate to pass legislation that would have provided aid to Israel without any other aid attached \u2014 and he supports efforts to prevent fentanyl from coming into the country, which is also included in the bill.<\/p>\n
Marshall wants the Senate to pass a specific immigration bill<\/a>, passed by the House earlier this year, that would prevent illegal immigrants from being released into the country until their case can be heard, would limit who is able to claim asylum and would resume construction of a wall at the southern border.<\/p>\n Hawley and Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, have also signed on to the Senate version of the bill, which Senate Democrats have called a non-starter. House Democrats disparagingly called the GOP-led bill the \u201cChild Deportation Act.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf Republicans want to have a serious conversation about immigration reform, we\u2019re ready to do that,\u201d said Olivia Dalton, the White House deputy press secretary. \u201cBut, you know, we also need them to move expeditiously and take action now to fund our critical national security needs, which, by the way, include funding for border security and to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Marshall sponsored a resolution called the \u201cOpen Borders Invasion Resolution,\u201d an attempt to authorize the states to allow state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. It did not pass the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t this president want to secure a border?\u201d Marshall said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the question that needs to be answered. Life is about priorities. And my priority is to secure a border.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawley introduced a similar bill<\/a> this year, which also didn\u2019t pass the Senate. But while Marshall has said his priority is the border, Hawley said he doesn\u2019t believe the talks over immigration reform will go very far.<\/p>\n