TULSA, Okla. — A bipartisan bill fronted by Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford aims to pass the first major immigration reform in at least 30 years.
Sen. Lankford is joined by two other senators: Arizona independent Kyrsten Sinema and Connecticut democrat Chris Murphy in negotiating for the bill, which would also guarantee funding to help Ukraine in its war.
Its primary focus is capping immigration through the U.S.-Mexico border.
"We need to find a solution. We have a major problem on our border. We need to solve it," Lankford said.
The senator said he worked four months to draft a bipartisan immigration bill.
Endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council, the deal would allow a president to close the southern border to any migration if crossings rise above 5,000 per day in a given week, or 8,500 in a single day.
Migrants could still apply at ports of entry, and once the average of illegal crossings drops by 75%, the administration would have two weeks to reopen the border.
The rule would apply to all migrants, even those seeking asylum. However, asylum seekers would then face stricter requirements to gain asylum.
Human rights groups say that goes too far, but many republicans say the proposals don't go far enough, like Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen.
"The premise for them to obtain legal entry into our country needs to be upon the justice of their claim, not coming across and then us granting them through taxpayer utilization," Rep. Brecheen said.
President Biden said he'd sign it into law if it passed Congress, and says it's Former President Trump's fault for encouraging republicans to strike it down for election points.
House Speaker Mike Johnson already said last month Lankford's bill would be "dead on arrival."
Despite growing backlash, Sen. Lankford said now is the time to act.
"It would be an enormous shift, not just for this president or the next president, but for the next one the next one, the next one," he said. "As a lawmaker, I have a responsibility to look on the long horizon to say, 'what do we do to fix an obvious hole?' This is an obvious hole in the law. Let's fix it."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Lankford Tuesday for his efforts to draft the bill, but acknowledged it likely won't pass this week.
However, McConnell refused to comment whether he thinks Trump is the reason for the bill's opposition.
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