Lindsey Graham's bill to limit immigrant asylum protections at southern border passes divided Senate committee

WASHINGTON – The raw feelings roiling the country over the humanitarian crisis at the southern border spilled into the normally restrained Senate on Thursday as Republicans began pushing through a controversial immigration bill that visibly angry Democrats blasted as inhumane and illegitimate.

In a 12-10 party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Secure and Protect Act of 2019, which would make it harder for thousands of Central American immigrants to apply for and receive asylum for entry into the United States.

Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., frustrated at Democratic efforts to block his bill, brought the measure up for a vote even though opponents claimed it was a clear violation of the panel's rules.

"I've been trying to find a solution to the problem, which we all acknowledge, which is a border out of control, laws being abused, a humanitarian crisis," Graham told committee members before the vote. "The problem is getting to be unmanageable. We're all concerned about the humanitarian conditions ... but we've done nothing to stop the flow until today."

Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who opposes the bill, called the vote “a dark day in the history of this committee” that would lead to “an exacerbation of partisan hostilities.”

Graham's bill, which now heads to the full Senate, would:

• No longer allow asylum applications from residents of the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) to be filed at the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, refugee processing centers would be set up in those countries and Mexico to handle processing.

• Extend from 20 to 100 the maximum number of days families could stay together in the United States while making their asylum claims. Democrats claim it would overturn a court ruling known as "the Flores Agreement" requiring the government to release children within 20 days and set minimum standards of care and housing for children.

• Add 500 immigration judges to reduce the backlog of cases.

• Permit U.S. border agents to return unaccompanied minors from Central America to their country of origin after screening, similar to the current process for children who come from Mexico and Canada.

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The measure is not expected to pass the GOP-controlled Senate because it would need the support of several Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster.

President Donald Trump, who has made the expansion of a border wall a signature issue of his domestic agenda, last week tweeted that Democrats "want open borders, which means CRIME, CRIME, CRIME!"

Democrats said the Graham bill fails to acknowledge the reality that immigrants are trying to escape their home countries. The primary reasons migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have cited are that they’re victims of domestic abuse or gang violence.

Immigration judges mostly reject such claims, which explains why Central American migrants are denied more than 70% of the time, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a project with Syracuse University that monitors immigration data through public records requests.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the panel, recounted the story of a Honduran woman who sought asylum after she witnessed gang members kill her mother. She fled to the U.S. after her sister-in-law, who also witnessed the murder, was killed. Her niece was thrown into a dumpster and gang members threatened to murder her as well.

"Under the Graham bill, this young woman would be banned from receiving asylum in the United States," Feinstein said minutes before the committee's vote. "It would make the situation far worse. If the Statue of Liberty could weep, she would."

But Republicans and the Trump administration have been saying the situation demands swift and dramatic action.

An average of 4,600 people a day crossed the southern border illegally in May, compared to 700 per day two years earlier, according to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security.

The report, which looked at conditions in the Customs and Border Protection’s Fort Brown station near the U.S-Mexico border in Texas, described rampant overcrowding it described as “a ticking time bomb." In a cell with a capacity for 40 juveniles, 51 women were in a cell with a capacity for 40 juveniles while 71 men were in a cell designated for 41, the report said.

Family separations continue to be an issue as the backlog grows into the hundreds of thousands.

"For seven weeks, I've been trying to find a solution," said Graham, noting that Democrats boycotted a meeting last week that prevented Republicans from taking action because of committee rules requiring bi-partisan attendance. "What am I supposed to do? This cannot be a place where nothing happens. We all agree on our side this will fix the problem. We have a right to vote."

But Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the move by Graham would have far-reaching effects on how future legislation is handled in a body known for its courtesy and comity.

"This committee has always respected the rights of the minority," he said. "This committee, certainly in the 40 years I've been here, has never sunk to a point where the majority has been so intent on jamming a partisan bill through the committee. They're willing to disregard any and every rule as well as the faintest notion of fairness."

Contributing: Alan Gomez, Bart Jansen

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Immigration: Lindsey Graham's bill to limit asylum clears Senate panel