Republican’s Home State Turns on Him Over Leaked Border Proposal

Republican Senator James Lankford is facing backlash after the alleged details of a sweeping immigration bill he worked on leaked over the weekend.

Congress is seeking to pass new legislation on immigration, an issue that for years has stumped lawmakers on Capitol Hill, amid an uptick in the number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Republicans, who have been sharply critical of President Joe Biden’s approach to immigration, are pushing for policies to tighten border security, while some Democrats are aiming to streamline the immigration process for asylum-seekers. Congressional leaders are trying to strike a deal that could pass both the Republican-led House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate.

The conservative-aligned Immigration Accountability Project on Saturday leaked the alleged details of the immigration plan, sparking a MAGA uproar over policies viewed as insufficiently conservative.

The organization alleged that the plan would include an allowance of 5,000 migrant crossings per day into the United States, grant work permits to the adult children of H-1B visa holders and automatically grant work permits to undocumented migrants as soon as they are released from custody.

Oklahoma Senator Lankford, a Republican who has been engaged with Democrats in negotiations on the immigration deal, has denied the leak.

Amid backlash from conservatives over the leak, one Oklahoma lawmaker is warning that Lankford may face a resolution condemning him if the Senate moves forward with the deal.

Oklahoma state senator Dusty Deevers shared the text of the resolution in a post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, early on Thursday morning.

“Senator Lankford is in the driver’s seat. Should he choose to protect the American people by enforcing the law, and rejecting this deal, then this resolution will not be submitted. Time will tell,” he wrote.

He said he stands “ready to submit” the resolution, which would condemn Lankford if he “strikes any deal with Senator [Chuck] Schumer in which any amount of illegal entries are permitted, work permits are issued to illegal aliens, or any amnesty is granted to illegal aliens.”

Meanwhile, conservative influencer Charlie Kirk said he would have “no choice but do a series of events and rallies across Oklahoma” if Lankford “continues his open border betrayal.”

“We will primary and remove anyone remotely associated him. We will make him the least popular senator in America. You have been warned, Jim,” he posted to X.

However, Lankford responded to the leak in a post to X, writing that people should not “believe everything” they read on the internet.

“A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on – Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1855 I encourage people to read the border security bill before they judge the border security bill. I also advise people not to believe everything you read on the internet….,” he wrote.

Newsweek reached out to Lankford’s office for comment via email.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, signaled he would not support this legislation if the leaked details are accurate. He posted a photograph showing key parts of the bill to X with the caption: ” Absolutely not.”