On Thursday, Republican lawmakers, including a top Senator, unveiled a new bill for border and immigration enforcement. The bill would see $15 billion invested in border security over four years and help to fund the wall on the border between the US and Mexico, which has long been an ambition of President Donald Trump.
John Cornyn, the Senator Majority Whip from Texas, introduced the new bill, which would authorize the border wall as well as technological improvements at the southern border, making law the President’s wish to hire thousands of extra immigration judges and immigration and Border Patrol officers. The bill would also seek extra resources for local law enforcement and ports of entry in border regions, and also make mandatory a national tracking entry-exit system with biometric measurements for visitors to the US.
The new bill would not affect the current US visa system and legal immigration laws. But, Republican Senators supporting the bill, say that before any broad immigration measure can proceed, border security has to come first. Cornyn was keen to emphasize that he saw the bill as a way to show the issue of border security was being led by lawmakers rather than by the White House.
Cornyn also added that the idea of the border having physical infrastructure to separate the US and Mexico is not new and that lawmakers believe this bill should take priority over other efforts to enact immigration reform.