Pramila Jayapal says Biden caved to 'extremist views' in bipartisan border deal

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Senate releases long-awaited text of bipartisan border deal

Fox News' Madeleine Rivera details the highlights and backlash from Republicans.

A leading leftist in the House of Representatives is attacking the Senate’s bipartisan border security deal and is accusing her fellow Democrats, including President Biden, of having "given in" to Republicans.

"I am still reviewing the text of this proposal, which was constructed under Republican hostage-taking and refusal to fund aid for Ukraine without cruelty toward immigrants," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement late Sunday.

"However, it is already clear it includes poison pill provisions such as new Title 42-like expulsion authority that will close the border and turn away asylum seekers without due process, a boon to cartels who prey on migrants."

The proposal is aimed at tightening current immigration and asylum laws while also fast-tracking eligible asylum claims. It also would give President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security authority to temporarily shut down the border when it is overwhelmed.

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Top progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal is attacking the bipartisan border deal between the Senate and White House. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images | Nicole Neri/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"There is no question that we need significant changes to our immigration system. It is long overdue for modernization to allow for efficient and orderly processing of migrants who seek to come to the United States and to increase legal pathways for work and family visas, refugees, and asylum seekers. However, this proposal includes none of the thoughtful reforms to do that or to actually address the situation at the border in a humane way," Jayapal said.

"Democrats have given in to these extremist views over and over again for 30 years. By refusing to make the structural changes in the Senate needed to pass true reforms, allowing MAGA Republicans to lie to the American public, and declining to stand up and defend immigrant communities, it appears that President Biden and Senate Democrats have fallen into the same trap again."

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The border deal revealed on Sunday does not include any new legal pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, young people who were brought into the country illegally as children – something that’s been a goal for Democrats for over a decade.

Migrants walk next to razor wire after crossing the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 4, 2024.  (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

But it does add another 250,000 new immigrant visas over a period of five years, with a majority being family-based, and the remaining 90,000 aimed for workers. 

The agreement also includes an expedited pathway to permanent legal status for the thousands of Afghan allies who fled Afghanistan to the U.S. when the Taliban took over.

But Jayapal argued it does not go far enough on the amnesty front and focuses too much on enforcement.

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"The Senate will try to sell this so-called deal by pointing to some additional green cards and fixes for small immigrant groups," she said. "However, let’s be clear: minor visa tweaks in exchange for shutting down the asylum system and exacting further harm on the vulnerable people seeking refuge in the United States is not serious reform and it once again throws immigrants under the political bus."

Democratic California Sen. Alex Padilla has also criticized the bill. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.

While she's among the only Democratic voices in the House to come out so strongly against the bill, it's already seen some pushback in the Senate – both Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., denounced the agreement as well.