Republicans' cynical border play

Congressional Republicans in Washington have crushed a significant effort to improve border security and reform asylum processes. This comes as the party peddles the message that it is strong, and Democrats are weak, on these issues. Paralysis on immigration is a decades-old condition in Congress. Now disorder sets in at a unique moment and for obvious reasons.

Incumbent Joe Biden, under pressure for a continued migrant influx, is the likely Democratic candidate for president in November. The person he unseated, Donald Trump, is the likely Republican nominee. Here on Long Island, early voting is well underway in Tuesday’s special election to fill the House seat vacated by George Santos.

That's the context in which Speaker Mike Johnson abruptly announced last week that a border bill negotiated by a bipartisan circle of senators would be DOA in the House. It was Johnson who demanded a border bill be linked to critical aid for Israel and Ukraine. The bill had provisions tougher than Democrats have ever agreed to in order to close the deal on the pressing need for foreign assistance.

This legislation would set a higher standard for asylum claims, expand the ability of officials to detain border-crossers, and close the border if more than 5,000 persons per day on average try to enter the U.S. in a week. The bill has no provision to protect from deportation certain immigrants who came to the United States as children. Nor would it provide pathways to citizenship for those here illegally. But legislative chaos ensued as Republicans turned on each other in the Senate, and the deal died after only four Republicans voted in favor of a proposal that gave them the border security measure they demanded. Aid for Israel and Ukraine is now in limbo.

The cynicism isn’t subtle. The Republican Party as a whole caved to the demands of Trump who has made fear of immigrants a perpetual campaign issue. It's another signal that the party would rather score political points by decrying current conditions than do anything to help.

Long Islanders need only look at next week's special election in CD3 to understand why Republicans think keeping the border crisis on the front burner will help them politically. Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi supported the crackdown measure because it was a good start to solving the problems. GOP candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip opposed it, reciting the party line that the bill is inadequate while promising to somehow “work to secure the border.” To help rally resentment, she even called the current border situation an “invasion.”

For all the flaws in the Democrats’ handling of the migrant influx, Republicans can no longer be taken seriously when they say they’ll fix the problem once in charge. Voters should remember this slippery little electoral game during an election season when the migrant issue commands outsized attention. Militant GOP rhetoric at this point rings hollow when it comes to action.