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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says Senate immigration proposal “ends the practice of catch and release”
Washington — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said on Sunday that the forthcoming border security deal that Senate negotiators have been working on for months ends the practice of catch and release, among other key provisions, providing a “disincentive for individuals to come to this country.”
“We’ll no longer have people just entering the country and maybe going to court in the next seven or 10 years,” Sinema said Sunday on “Face the Nation.” “Instead, we’ll make swift justice — folks who do qualify for asylum will be on a rapid path, six months or less, to start a new life in America, and those who do not qualify will quickly be returned to their home countries.”
The Arizona independent explained how the agreement would end the policy of catch and release, the practice of detaining and then releasing migrants with the promise of a future court date, while outlining the new pathways for seeking asylum.
Under the agreement, expected to be released later on Sunday, Sinema explained that individuals may go into short-term detention, where they would be taken into custody and be interviewed to determine whether they meet the asylum standard. For those who don’t meet the standard, which she said is most migrants, they would be returned to their home country under the proposal. And for families, they would be supervised over the course of three months, while being required to show more proof early on about whether they qualify for asylum.
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Sinema also explained that under the agreement, the executive branch would be required to “shut down the border” if there are 5,000 people asking to enter the country and seeking asylum on a single day, while permitting the president to take action if that number reaches 4,000 a day.
“The reason we’re doing that is because we want to be able to shut down the system when it gets overloaded,” Sinema said. “So we’re requiring it, not permitting it. And that’s a key difference from existing immigration law.”
Sinema explained that the lead Senate appropriators are in the “final stages” of putting the bill together Sunday, as the text of the deal is expected by day’s end. Sinema has been working with Sens. Chris Murphy and James Lankford for months on the agreement, which is designed to reduce illegal crossings along the southern border after unprecedented levels of migration in recent months. The deal is part of a larger national security supplemental requested by the White House that includes billions of dollars for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other national security priorities.
But standing in the way of the deal, especially in the House, is Republican opposition, which threatened to derail the effort this week amid pushback from former President Donald Trump.
Then, Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Saturday that the House would vote on a standalone bill on aid to Israel, setting a showdown between the two chambers, as the Senate is eyeing an initial vote on the supplemental funding package this week.
Nevertheless, Sinema said she “feels confident” that if the Senate bill passes the upper chamber, House Republicans will have a chance to read and understand the policy and will be faced with a choice – “do you want to secure the border?”
“For five months my Republican colleagues have demanded, and I think rightfully so, that we address this border crisis as part of a national security package — I agree,” Sinema said. “The crisis on our border is a national security threat. And this week, the Senate will begin to take action on a large national security package that includes a realistic, pragmatic and the strongest solution to our border crisis in my lifetime.”
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
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Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
