EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), the likely Democratic nominee in Arizona’s competitive Senate race, is introducing two border bills as his party moves to counter Republican criticisms that Democrats are soft on immigration.
Gallego, who represents a district that includes portions of downtown Phoenix, is unveiling legislation on Wednesday aimed at speeding up migrant processing and providing relief to Arizona communities along the southern border. The legislation comes as Republicans in the upper chamber are set to block an attempt to advance a bipartisan border security bill that fell apart earlier this year.
The Arizona congressman introduced the Direct Hire Act, aimed at staffing up two Homeland Security agencies — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — in an effort to speed up the screening and removal of illegal immigrants.
Gallego also introduced the Screening Efficiency Act, which creates a combined review of credible fear and other asylum or removal standards. The bill is intended to remove duplicate interviews, thereby reducing wait times.
“Arizonans deserve real solutions to the crisis at our southern border, which is why I’m fighting to tackle it from every angle, including providing additional resources to federal officials and first responders in our border communities,” Gallego said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
“Today, I’m proud to introduce two commonsense bills that will make it easier to hire officers and eliminate redundancies in the asylum screening process,” he added. “We must do more to cut bureaucratic red tape and free up resources to address border surges.”
Gallego will be forced to fend off his progressive reputation if he is to win election to the Senate in the purple border state of Arizona. His expected Republican opponent, Kari Lake, has taken a hard line on immigration since launching her Senate run.
Gallego is separating the two proposals, which are tucked into the Senate’s bipartisan border bill, in an effort to pass them separately after the entire bill is expected to be blocked in the Senate on Thursday.
Senate Democrats are reviving the proposal in an effort to flip the script on immigration politics, which has been a major weakness for President Joe Biden. Even though the bill was rejected earlier this year, with Republicans casting doubt it would actually secure the border, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is attempting to frame the failure to pass the bill as a matter of partisan politics.
Democrats note that Biden’s 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, opposed the border deal.
The bill, negotiated by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and James Lankford (R-OK), was designed to raise the standards for migrants to qualify for asylum and reduce border crossings. It also would give the president power to shut down the border if certain conditions are met.
Gallego holds a double-digit lead over Lake in the latest poll for the Arizona U.S. Senate race. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, changed its prediction from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat” recently, handing Democrats welcome news in the hotly contested race in the Grand Canyon State. The two are running for a seat being vacated by Sinema, who caucuses with the Democrats.
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Gallego has introduced other border-related bills recently, including legislation to authorize the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to disrupt illicit supply chains and stop traffickers from laundering dirty money. The legislation would allow the Treasury Department to identify banks, transactions, and accounts connected with fentanyl trafficking.
The legislation passed in the House as part of the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act in late April.