Washington — The Biden administration on Tuesday indicated to congressional lawmakers that it would be willing to support a new border authority to expel migrants without asylum screenings, as well as a dramatic expansion of immigration detention and deportations, to convince Republicans to back aid to Ukraine, four people familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The White House informed Senate Democrats that it could back those sweeping and hardline immigration policy changes as part of the negotiations over President Biden's emergency funding request, a roughly $100 billion package that includes military aid to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, as well as money to bolster border enforcement and hire additional immigration officials.
For weeks, a small group of senators have been attempting to reach an immigration enforcement deal. Republicans have conditioned any further assistance to Ukraine to policy changes designed to reduce the unprecedented levels of illegal crossings along the southern border.
