Republican Feud Stalls Border Deal, Says Democratic Negotiator Chris Murphy

A bipartisan border security deal is still mired in the Senate due to GOP infighting, lead Democratic negotiator Chris Murphy told reporters Tuesday night.

While Republicans have made President Joe Biden’s handling of the border a hallmark of their party’s critiques, some conservatives have come out against the deal—which has not been publicly released—as former President Donald Trump has assailed the effort.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered nearly 2.48 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border during financial year 2023 and has already tallied more than 785,000 over the first three months of the current fiscal year. As the pressure on Washington, D.C., continues to mount, the issue will play a pivotal role in shaping the November election.

Murphy, a senator from Connecticut, said: “The decision as to whether to proceed to a floor vote, which would involve releasing the text, is largely a decision being made by Republicans arguing as to whether they are still on board with a package of border policy changes.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn, an ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Republican whip who has worked closely on border issues, pushed back against Murphy’s assertion that internal GOP politics are holding up a deal when asked by Newsweek to respond to the Connecticut senator’s comments, while remaining supportive of the effort.

“I think it’s all about policy at this point, trying to figure out how to change the status quo,” Cornyn said. “I can’t think of a subject that is more challenging than immigration and border policy. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve been involved in every single discussion about that, and we’ve never been successful actually passing anything.”

Despite the deal text having yet to be released, Trump has called the bill “horrific” and “not necessary” on Truth Social. In turn, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has been noncommittal as to whether he would bring a deal to vote on the House floor, and a growing number of GOP lawmakers have come out against the deal.

Rumors about the border agreement’s near collapse intensified last week after the Congress-focused outlet Punch Bowl News reported that McConnell may be hedging his support for a deal after telling his conference, “we don’t want to do anything to undermine [Trump]” as the former president prepares to potentially challenge Biden in November.

But proponents of the deal shot down speculation on Thursday, saying McConnell’s comments were taken out of context and that he still backs a border proposal. Senate leadership has stressed that they believe a deal struck now would benefit a GOP president in the future, as they do not believe Democrats would be willing to make concessions if Trump were in office.

Newsweek contacted the offices of McConnell and Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, lead Republican negotiator, for comment via email on Tuesday.