A Republican leader in the Senate’s border security negotiations still believes the effort will pass Congress. Appearing on CBS’ \u201cFace the Nation\u201d Sunday, Sen.\u00a0James Lankford\u00a0(R-Okla.) attributed rising opposition to the tentative deal to \u201cinternet rumors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe challenge that Senator Cruz has and a bunch of other folks is they’re so waiting to be able to read the bill on this and this has been our great challenge of being able to fight through the final words to be able to get the bill text out so people can hear it,\u201d said Lankford. \u201cRight now, there’s internet rumors. It’s all that people are running. It would be absolutely absurd for me to agree to 5,000 people a day. This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day. There’s no amnesty. It increases a number of Border Patrol agents and it increases asylum officers. It increases detention beds so we can quickly detain and then deport individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt ends catch-and-release. It focuses on additional deportation flights out. It changes our asylum process so that people can get a fast asylum screening at a higher standard and then get returned back to their home country. This is not about letting 5,000 people in a day. This is the most misunderstood section of this proposal. And let me tell you briefly what it is. You know, last four months, we’ve had seven days \u2013 in four months, we’ve had seven days that we had less than 5,000 people. This is set up if you have a rush of people coming at the border, the border closes down, no one gets in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the weekend, the\u00a0Oklahoma Republican Party\u00a0(OKGOP) state committee voted to censure Lankford for his role as the chief negotiator in the bipartisan border talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A copy of the resolution posted by state Sen. Dusty Reevers (R) states, \u201cSenator Lankford playing fast and loose with Democrats on our border policy not only disfranchises legal immigrants seeking citizenship but it also puts the safety and security of Americans in great danger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n