Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's amendment to extend border health restriction fails in last-minute spending bill

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s multi-billion dollar amendment aiming to extend Title 42 fell short Thursday during a lame-duck debate over the Senate’s massive $1.7 trillion spending package.

Her amendment, which comes a day after the Trump-era Title 42 border restriction was expected to expire, would have extended the policy until a proper plan is in place and funded resources along the U.S.-Mexico border. The amendment aimed to provide millions of dollars toward immigration judges, additional processing centers and infrastructure to increase shelter capacity along the border.

"I’ve made clear, the border is in crisis and Arizona is facing a security and humanitarian crisis," Sinema, I-Ariz., said during a Senate floor speech.

“We are here to do our job. We must fund the government and we must solve our border crisis.”

The amendment came in the final days before Congress must pass the 4,155-page omnibus to avert a government shutdown. Sinema’s amendment represented a counterpoint to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who stalled negotiations Wednesday by demanding a vote on his amendment to preserve Title 42.

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Lee’s amendment, which also failed, would have cut funding to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s office unless the Biden administration keeps Title 42 in place. Critics of the amendment say that the spending package would fail in the House if the amendment was included in the bill.

Title 42 is in limbo as the Supreme Court decides the future of the controversial policy.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Monday temporarily paused Title 42 from lifting on Dec. 21. The temporary stay stemmed from an Arizona-led coalition of 19 conservative states’ request to keep the restriction in place, citing a “crisis of unprecedented proportions at the border” if the policy is repealed.

Title 42 was first implemented in March 2020 and has given border officials the ability to swiftly expel migrants at the nation’s borders while shuttering ports of entry to asylum seekers. Asylum seekers in Nogales, Sonora, Wednesday mourned the prolongment of the policy as they must continue to confront perilous conditions in the border city.

The omnibus spending bill would already provide $800 million for shelter, migrant emergency services and improvements to refugee processing.

Previously: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's compromise immigration deal dead for now as Title 42 deadline nears

The failed amendment is Sinema’s latest action of opposition against lifting Title 42 without a comprehensive plan in place.

At the beginning of the month, Sinema forged a draft framework, alongside Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., that would extend Title 42 for at least another year while creating a path to citizenship for 2 million undocumented youth, known as Dreamers.

The last-minute draft aimed to attract support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, preserving a policy that has limited migration flows at the border while paving a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people.

The draft framework failed to shore up enough support in time and is dead in the Senate, for now.

Sinema, alongside Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., sent a letter to Mayorkas expressing “deep concerns” about the upcoming end of Title 42 three days after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., vacated the policy.

The Arizona senators detailed their worries over the projected impact that the end of the restriction would have on migrants, border communities, nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, and Department of Homeland Security employees.

Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on Twitter @joseicastaneda.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Sinema's last-minute push to extend border restriction fails