Illinois Senator Dick Durbin had signed a statement denouncing “reports of harmful changes to our asylum system” proposed as part of a border deal on Capitol Hill. However, Durbin, a veteran of numerous immigration battles, had also received troubling information from border officials and seen firsthand how the growing number of asylum seekers had overwhelmed the resources of his north central state. UNITED STATES.
When Zients called Durbin one weekend this month to update him on the progress of the ongoing border talks, the senator was candid.
“I told him that I think the current situation is untenable and that Democrats need to be part of the solution,” Durbin said. President Joe Biden's top adviser suggested the White House had the same opinion, emphasizing to Durbin that “we need to talk to Republicans and see if there is common ground,” according to the senator's report.
This conversation between Zients and Durbin is just one of several calls the White House chief of staff has made to key lawmakers in recent days, underscoring how senior Biden administration officials have sharply increased their commitment to the Capitol, to a Time in which the outcome of… The President's call for emergency spending for Ukraine remains in limbo.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, along with senior White House and Department of Homeland Security officials, spent hours haggling behind closed doors with senators over the details of immigration policy and trying to reach agreement on the situation at the border. Zients himself attended one of those meetings on Capitol Hill last week and reiterated Biden's request for a solution to negotiators.
And the White House chief of staff has spoken regularly with Senator James Lankford, the Republican Party's chief negotiator. That level of participation has emboldened Republicans who had been pressuring Biden to become more involved.
Republicans, who control the House and can block legislation in the Senate, say a deal cannot be reached without prominent White House involvement. The active involvement of Biden's advisers in the talks sends a message – particularly to wary Democratic lawmakers – that the president is willing to make a border deal that could make some members of his own party uncomfortable.
And any agreement reached on the border could also help overcome a major political hurdle for Biden in his re-election campaign, especially if greater White House involvement helps the public see the president as someone looking for a solution to the growing crisis Presence of migrants seeks the border.
“I think an important change is that we now have all entities at the table,” said independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, one of the lawmakers who has been negotiating a border deal for weeks. “The White House is fully engaged in these negotiations, and that is important. “It shows a level of seriousness and intent to resolve this crisis.”
Another important reason why the White House and senior administration officials are so directly involved is the enormous complexity of immigration law and the central role of the Department of Homeland Security in enforcing any restrictions enacted by Congress.
However, this was not the White House's strategy from the start.
When it became clear that Republicans in Congress would demand policy concessions in return for releasing billions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine, the White House deliberately stayed out of the negotiations, repeating its previous strategy of letting lawmakers legislate had led to several of Biden's priorities becoming law. Although administration officials knew what was being discussed, they delegated the matter to the senators leading the discussions: Lankford, Sinema and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy.
That dynamic changed this month. Mayorkas was a constant presence in the negotiations, along with White House Legislative Affairs Director Shuwanza Goff and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian, who has incorporated the immigration issue into her work. They, along with senators and other senior advisers, have been negotiating for hours every day and continued to do so on Capitol Hill throughout the weekend.
Outside the negotiating room, Zients has spoken regularly with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and other negotiators. When the chief of staff met with Lankford, he urged him and other Republicans to continue border negotiations because aid to Ukraine was vital, an administration official said.
“We can't reach an agreement until the White House is actually involved,” Lankford said, emphasizing that having Biden's advisers at the meeting was helpful. “A lot of Senate Democrats are asking, 'What does the White House think about this?' It's reasonable to ask. It can’t be answered until they actually get there.”
The White House and Biden's foreign policy legacy have a tremendous amount at stake in the negotiations, which are taking place in a room on the second floor of the Capitol near Schumer's office. The border talks come with additional funding not only for Ukraine but also for Israel, which has been embroiled in a violent war in Gaza since Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis in an Oct. 7 attack.
Biden and White House aides have repeatedly warned in alarming tones about the consequences if funding for Ukraine dries up. The president said this month that “any disruption to our ability to provide assistance to Ukraine clearly strengthens Putin's position,” and administration officials stressed that funds to support Kiev will run out by the end of the year.
But other Democrats and migrant rights advocates worry that Biden's desperate plea for help for Ukraine will lead the White House to embrace tough policies restricting asylum routes that it otherwise would not support. And it will be left to the president's senior advisers to weather the wrath of disgruntled lawmakers. Zients and Mayorkas spoke with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Saturday, and several Democrats expressed concerns about the ongoing border talks.
“I think sometimes there's the idea, because a lot of senators become president, that the White House and the Senate could make a deal and somehow block the House,” said Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, a prominent progressive, on “Fox News.” Sunday” broadcast. “But the House of Commons is still the people’s house and we will express our views. We have to participate.”
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Associate Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
SPRING: Associated Press