Potential immigration deal involving White House angers progressive and Latino advocates

WASHINGTON — Immigration advocates and Democrats are frustrated that the Biden administration is negotiating an immigration deal with U.S. Senate Republicans that could resurrect a pandemic-era tool used by the Trump administration to expel millions of migrants.

The consideration of a statutory authority similar to Title 42 has angered progressive and Latino lawmakers, who have criticized President Joe Biden for seeming to walk back his campaign promises to protect asylum laws and instead leaning into far-right immigration policies. The immigration changes are under discussion as part of a package that would tie them to military aid for Ukraine and Israel.

“How could we, as the United States of America, advocate for the creation of anything like this?” New Mexico’s Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján said of the immigration proposals in the Senate.

Those lawmakers and immigration advocates warned that the move could alienate young and Latino voters in next year’s presidential election.