Kyrsten Sinema Blasts Border Deal Critics for Fueling 'Rumors'

A bipartisan border deal could soon reach the Senate floor for vote, and one of the bill's negotiators, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, is calling on those criticizing it to wait and read the bill's text before caving to "rumors and misconceptions."

As the U.S.-Mexico border faces a record number of crossings, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma and the independent Sinema have spent weeks negotiating a deal that could see Congress pass major immigration and border enforcement legislation for the first time in nearly 40 years.

However, former President Donald Trump, who has made the border a focus of his campaign, has called the unreleased deal "horrific," and several GOP lawmakers have followed suit. Sinema said no rank-and-file senators have seen the text and called on them to withhold judgment until its release.

"The criticism are based on rumors and misconceptions," Sinema told Newsweek. "What many people have been talking about are factual inaccuracies, based on rumors and not understanding the issue, which I get because the text isn't out. I would just ask that folks consider reading the text before making a decision about what the text does or doesn't do."

Sinema said that the policy section of the border agreement is in its "very final stages," saying she expects it to be "completely done" by Thursday evening. However, the text will not be released until members of the Appropriations Committee finalize the bill's cost, but Sinema said that effort is also in its "final stages."

Outlining aspects of the deal, Sinema said the bill would end "catch and release," in which people who cross the border illegally await their immigration hearings in the U.S. It would create an emergency authority to shut down the system when it's overwhelmed. She added that the bill would change asylum standards and have immigration-related interviews conducted by asylum officers instead of judges.

Despite many of the components being items conservatives have desired for some time, opposition to the deal has continued to mount. Immigration advocates on the left have criticized Murphy for caving to GOP demands, and conservatives have scrutinized Lankford for not going far enough to secure the border.

With pressure mounting, Republicans will be forced to make a difficult decision if Trump objects to the bill. GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally who helped pass a 2013 border bill through the Senate that ultimately died in the House, urged lawmakers to be patient before casting judgment.

"I'd wait to read it before I came out against it," Graham told Newsweek. "Whether or not it can make it through the House, I won't know, but I do know this: We owe it to [Senator Lankford] and, I think, the process to look at the bill before we make a decision."