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Former President Donald Trump is headed for disappointment with the border deal that bipartisan Senate negotiators have struck, according to Republican Senator Rick Scott.
Scott told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday that the bill pairing border enforcement measures with Ukraine aid does not include any mention of the border wall that's become synonymous with Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign. During the Trump administration, the United States built 458 miles of the wall. On the first day of his presidency, Joe Biden signed an executive order immediately halting its construction.
Asked by Hewitt if there was any funding for the border wall in the bipartisan negotiations, Scott replied, "none." The Florida Republican acknowledged before addressing the wall that he had not seen any of the actual draft legislation yet. The bill text is expected to be unveiled in the coming days.
Trump has loomed large over the Senate deal. The former president has threatened to sink any potential deal and ramped up pressure on Republican leaders, who have signaled that they "don't want to do anything to undermine" the 2024 GOP frontrunner.
"It's not going to happen, and I'll fight it all the way," Trump said of the proposed legislation at a Saturday rally in Nevada.
On Monday, the former president said a bill "is not necessary" to address the situation, saying on Truth Social that "NO LEGISLATION IS NEEDED, IT'S ALREADY THERE!!!"
"I had the safest and most secure Border in U.S. History. I didn't need a 'Bill!'" Trump wrote. "They are using this horrific Senate Bill as a way of being able to put the BORDER DISASTER onto the shoulders of the Republicans. The Democrats BROKE THE BORDER, they should fix it."
Although Trump was harshly criticized over the border wall and his immigration policies during his time in office, the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border seems to have shifted public opinion.
A Quinnipiac poll released in October found that the majority of voters, 52 percent, support the building of a wall at the southern border. Opinions on the construction of a wall were largely split along party lines, with 91 percent of Republicans supporting the wall and 78 percent of Democrats opposing it. Independents were divided, with 51 percent in favor of the wall and 46 percent against it.
Although voters are not in agreement over how to handle the influx of migrants who have arrived in the U.S. over the last two years, poll after poll shows immigration is among the top concerns for many Americans. Last week, immigration overtook inflation as the number one policy concern, according to a Harvard CAPS-Harris survey. Half of Republican voters cited immigration as their top issue, while 18 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of independents did.
Trump's influence on the Senate talks appears to be powerful. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, has called the deal "dead on arrival" and Oklahoma Republicans voted Saturday to censure GOP Senator James Lankford over his role as a lead negotiator on the bill.
The former president has even sparked criticisms from some Republicans on the Hill, like Senator Mitt Romney, who called it "really appalling" that Trump didn't want a deal "because he wants to blame Biden" for the border crisis. GOP Senator Thom Tillis also blasted fellow Republicans as "cowards" for suggesting that the policy wasn't strong just because they were "afraid to tell President Trump the truth."
But Scott has denied that Congressional Republicans are being swayed by Trump, telling Fox News on Sunday that the former president is "irrelevant to this conversation" since he's not currently serving in the White House, adding that Trump has "never" asked him to oppose a deal.
The Florida Republican also defended Lankford, calling his GOP colleague "smart," "hardworking," and knowledgable on the matter. He said "James is doing the best he can to try to explain the bill that, unfortunately, I don't know why they don't share it with us."
Biden, on the other hand, has embraced the deal and vowed to use the authority offered by the legislation even though it could be one of the harshest immigration bills of the century.
"Securing the border through these negotiations is a win for America," Biden said in a statement over the weekend. "For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it."
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About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more