National Security Leaders Release Policy Recommendations for Senate Border Negotiations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anna Nix Kumar
akumar@monumentadvocacy.com

Washington — The Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI) today released the following statement and policy recommendations for the current Senate border policy negotiations as part of the supplemental national security funding bill.

“As a group of national security leaders, we support comprehensive overhaul of our immigration system. However, in the absence of broader consensus, a smaller set of reforms is also worth enacting. That is why we are encouraged by reports of Republican and Democratic Senators attempting to reach an agreement to provide sensible immigration reforms that work towards our border becoming safe and secure.

“These policy areas stand out as the right balance of reforms that belong on the pending supplemental funding bill to assist with the Ukraine response to Russian aggression, the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, and the threat of China military action against Taiwan. We urge Congress to reject the extremes of both sides of the immigration debate and come together on meaningful, balanced reform.”

CNSI has identified the below four policy areas to be prioritized:

Asylum: CNSI supports raising the initial screening standard to weed out a higher percentage of unmeritorious cases earlier in the process, as well as making significant investments to assist orderly and controlled asylum screening and adjudication to make final decisions on applicants in months, not years.

Parole: CNSI supports legislation to require the executive branch to make a national security designation before initiating a large-scale parole program and giving Congress a new right of disapproval for such a designation akin to the current Congressional Review Act, while maintaining traditional executive branch discretion for case-specific parole authority.

DACA Recipients: CNSI believes this negotiation is the right vehicle to finally have Congress define the legalization terms for DACA recipients and to provide legal certainty for those enrolled in the program.

Afghan Adjustment Act: CNSI supports allowing the estimated 100,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. during the turbulent military withdrawal in 2021 to receive permanent status after stringent vetting.

To download the position paper, click here.

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