Democrat Senator Bucks Party, Calls On Lawmakers To Better Secure The Border

Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Wednesday echoed the White House in calling for immigration enforcement to be aided with additional resources and staff.

https://twitter.com/SenatorSinema/status/1118618298348900352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer
“Arizonans bear the brunt of Washington’s failure to address our broken immigration system. We must secure the border with a comprehensive, smart, bipartisan approach – we’re calling on [the Department of Homeland Security] to send additional resources and staff to AZ ports,” the first term senator tweeted Wednesday.

Sinema’s calls for better border security was a far cry from what many of her colleagues in the Senate are demanding.

Nineteen Senate Democrats, including every Democratic presidential candidate in the upper chamber of Congress, sent a letter to appropriation leaders demanding a reduction in funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

The group of Democrats made four specific requests of the appropriations committee: Less funding for beds in immigration detention centers, a rejection of the president’s request to hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, adoption of legislative language that places limitations on DHS funds, and a rejection of Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall.

However, Sinema may not be completely alone in her desire to reach across the aisle on immigration reform. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed “optimism” earlier in April over the possibility of reaching a deal with her Republican counterparts.

“I’m always optimistic,” Pelosi said at the Democrats’ 2019 Issues Conference in Virginia on April 11. “And this has to happen. It’s inevitable. Again, it’s inevitable to some, inconceivable to others. We have to shorten the distance between the inevitable and the inconceivable.”

Talk of immigration compromise comes as the U.S. southern border is witnessing record levels of apprehensions.

Law enforcement agents turned back or apprehended a total of 103,492 migrants who tried to reach the border in March, marking the highest month in 12 years. A large number of these foreign nationals were family units or children from the Northern Triangle, fomenting more problems with U.S. immigration laws designed primarily to handle single men from Mexico.