Jared Kushner is working with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham to try and broker a bipartisan deal on asylum laws, which could be the next step in Congress’ piecemeal approach to immigration reform after passage of a $4.5 billion border spending bill next week.

Graham, the Senate Judiciary chairman, then delayed a scheduled Thursday committee vote on his own piece of legislation, choosing to take more time to find a centrist approach. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser met with the Democratic whip and Graham on Tuesday to find a bipartisan way forward on asylum changes.

Graham’s bill would require asylum seekers to make their request in Mexico or their country of origination, and supply hundreds more immigration judges. Durbin said Democrats might be able to cut a deal if the legislation doesn’t affect existing child victim protections for migrants, the “Flores” standards for treatment of unaccompanied minors and the overall definition of asylum is not changed.

“I’ve identified to him five or six things that I believe Democrats in the Senate and the House will support. And I’ve begged him: Take it,” Durbin said on Wednesday of his discussions with Graham. “Nothing is going to change this overnight. Nothing. What we’ve suggested, I think, moves in the right direction.”

Graham said Durbin asked him to find a bipartisan way forward.

“I’m going to postpone the markup and see if we can find some kind of way,” Graham said. “I feel the need to try. [Durbin]’s asked to try, we’ll try.”



Graham and Durbin have worked together frequently on immigration reform, efforts that produced the 2013 comprehensive bill that passed the Senate but never became law. But those efforts have run aground under Trump’s presidency, as the president pushes for a more restrictive approach. Kushner is trying to cut a deal with the two longtime immigration reformers by giving input from the White House.

Durbin said their current level of discussion is mostly limited to asylum changes, which will likely not be attached to the supplemental spending bill expected to come to the Senate floor next week.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved on Wednesday its border supplemental, which addresses humanitarian and security needs. It could also come to the Senate floor as soon as next week. The House is working on a separate supplemental bill.

Immigration hawks are worried that the discussions with the liberal Durbin will lead to weaker immigration policy, including citizenship for so-called Dreamers, and Trump will fail to fulfill his campaign pledge to crack down on immigration. Still, those worries might be unfounded because a broader immigration bill is not on the front burner, despite interest from both parties.

“Despite what he says in public, this is still Lindsey Graham, a longtime supporter of mass amnesty bills,” said RJ Hauman, government relations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports stricter enforcement. “This could be why he has resisted efforts by fellow committee Republicans to strengthen a bill that is needed to address the crisis, eventually resulting in it getting shelved.”

“When it comes to immigration policy, the only focus must be on securing our borders, ending asylum abuse and closing legal loopholes that are contributing to the surge of unaccompanied minors and family units from Central America. That is the only thing that should happen in the Senate,” Hauman added.

Yet that approach will not get 60 votes in the Senate, where at least seven Democratic votes are required to pass most legislation. And Republicans are generally divided on the matter, meaning any bill must have bipartisan support to pass.

Meanwhile, Trump is considering an executive action that prohibits migrants from seeking asylum if they have resided in a country other than their own before coming to the U.S.


https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...-coons-1370345