The National Border Patrol Council has endorsed the bipartisan Senate immigration deal as pro-Trump Republicans vow to sink the legislation.
The deal raises standards for asylum screening and to process claims faster, ends the practice known as “catch and release,” and gives the president the authority to restrict illegal migrant crossings when it reaches a set threshold. The legislation also provides $20 billion for operational needs and capabilities at the border.
“Since Joe Biden has been in office, CBP has averaged over 6,700 apprehensions per day, and the vast majority have been released under a policy known as catch-and-release. Approximately 60% of all border apprehensions are single adults, a good number of whom are men of military age,” the NBPC said in a statement.
“The Border Act of 2024 will codify into law authorities that U.S. Border Patrol agents never had in the past,” the union continued. “This will allow us to remove single adults expeditiously and without a lengthy judicial review, which historically has required the release of these individuals into the interior of the U.S.”
The group, which endorsed former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, said the bill would “drop illegal border crossings nationwide and will allow our agents to get back to detecting and apprehending those who want to cross our border illegally and evade apprehension.”
“While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo,” the group said. “This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”
The group’s endorsement comes as Trump and his allies in Congress are railing against the legislation and saying it is “dead on arrival” in the House if he passes through the Senate.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) who helped negotiate the bipartisan border deal called the union’s endorsement “great news.”
“These men and women are on the frontlines of the border crisis — and they know what it takes to fix our broken system,” she wrote on X/Twitter.