Biden administration, senators divided on how to move ahead on border security

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas were at odds Wednesday on how lawmakers should improve border security, as they wrestle with how to handle a White House request for emergency spending.

Mayorkas, speaking to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pointed to a sweeping proposal President Joe Biden released early in his term and repeatedly rejected the idea of making smaller changes to immigration policy. He instead told senators that a full overhaul is needed.

“It is unanimous that our broken immigration system is in dire need of reform,” Mayorkas said. “On the very first day of this administration, President Biden presented Congress with a blueprint for that reform. We fully endorsed the need for policy changes, not in piecemeal form, but in a comprehensive form.”

Several senators on the panel, however, called for Mayorkas and the Biden administration to work with Democrats and Republicans on a few bipartisan changes that could be agreed to quickly.