GOP power play clears path to approve asylum crackdown in Senate committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee exploded in acrimony Thursday as Republicans flexed their majority to approve a bill to solve the border crisis by limiting border asylum claims and allowing migrants to be detained until they can be deported.

Outraged Democrats said they feared the bill would cut off too much immigration, condemning suffering migrants to life — or death — in their home countries. And, they complained, the GOP broke Senate rules to force the bill through.

Republicans brushed the complaints aside, saying it had become clear in recent weeks that Democrats weren’t willing to work on changes to U.S. policies that are inviting the migrant surge. So the GOP said it had to act alone, even if it stepped on Democratic toes.

“There is a crisis that’s turning into a disaster, somebody needs to shut off the flow. This shuts off the flow,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the committee, who led the push to pass the bill.

He said he’d been trying to negotiate with Democrats for seven weeks, offering to accept some of their ideas. But he said he realized they would never accept changes to asylum policy or court rulings that experts say are the driving factors behind the migrant surge.