A high-profile U.S. senator suggested it was time for Democrats and Republicans to make concessions in order to both secure the southern border and fund aid packages for Israel and Ukraine.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) had previously said he “didn’t want to paint himself into a corner” by offering specifics about a potential deal in Congress but has increasingly appeared to be willing to step back from hard-line positions on unlawful migration held by others in his party.
“I don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border. We want to provide the American dream for any migrant, but it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up — encountered — at our border to do that,” he said in a recent interview with CNN.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that it logged a record-high 300,000 encounters with unlawful migrants in December 2023. Additionally, CBP reported 225,000 apprehensions in the first 27 days of the same month, another record-setting high. The agency also documented at least 1.7 million “got-aways” — unlawful migrants who managed to enter the United States without getting apprehended near the border — under President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, warning the true number could be as much as 20% higher, according to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“I fear the extent of the threat posed by the record number of got-aways on Secretary Mayorkas’ watch won’t be clear until it is too late,” committee chair Rep. Mark E. Green (R-TN) said in a statement last month.
Party leaders recently met with the Biden administration to work toward a solution to the impasse caused by some Republicans who refuse to authorize more taxpayer spending on Israel and Ukraine’s respective war efforts without securing the southern border and some Democrats who refuse to entertain measures to enhance border security.
While Fetterman’s comments seem to stand apart from his typical left-wing talking points, he has said he is not in favor of all of the border security measures Republicans are pitching. He has called the party’s border demands an “OnlyFans wish list.”
He previously suggested he was willing to negotiate with Republicans to break the impasse but would not consider any policy change that would put deportation on the table when it comes to Dreamers, unlawful migrants who were brought into the country as children and meet a set of criteria established by the DREAM Act. He said his wife was a former Dreamer who became a naturalized citizen in 2009.
Still, Fetterman has bristled at criticism from the left over his recent stance on the border, as well as his stated support for Israel amid its current war with Hamas in Gaza.
“I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border,” Fetterman said in an interview last month, according to Politico. “It’s a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage.”
The most recent meeting between legislative leaders and the Biden administration saw some lawmakers claim that the current logjam might be easing, however, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he intends to hold the line until border security concessions are made.