Sinema and Tillis Working on Stopgap Border Measure

With the Trump-era border policy Title 42 set to expire next week, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are working on a stopgap border measure that would grant the Biden administration a temporary, two-year extension to expel migrants from the United States.

A Sinema aide told Politico that the bill being proposed by the bipartisan pair is functionally different from Title 42 in that it does not rely on a public health order to deny asylum and migration claims.

The legislation would provide protections for migrants who would be tortured or face threats to their life or freedom if returned to their home countries, as well as migrants with serious medical needs, according to the aide.

Requiring a 60-vote threshold to clear the Senate, the legislation isn't likely to pass before Title 42 expires and faces an uphill battle for adoption regardless in a chamber that has grappled with border and immigration issues unsuccessfully in recent years.

The Sinema-Tillis measure comes as the House prepares to vote on its own comprehensive immigration and border proposal next week, Politico reports. The senators' bill is not in response to the House's proposal, but rather in response to the upcoming May 11 end of Title 42.