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The busts took place between Feb. 11 and Feb. 17, according to the agency.

302 pounds stashed in SUV’s doors, fenders, spare tire

The first ill-fated smuggling attempt took place on Feb. 11, when a 72-year-old man tried to enter the U.S. in a red SUV, according to a CBP statement.

“Anomalies” detected during a secondary inspection led CBP officers to enlist the help of a K9, which alerted to the presence of narcotics, officials said.

“CBP officers extracted a total of 100 packages concealed within the vehicle’s doors, fenders and spare tire,” the statement said. “The contents of the packages were tested and identified as methamphetamine with a total weight of 302 pounds.”

770 pounds concealed in big rig

Another major seizure took place on Feb. 13, when a 30-year-old man tried to make his way into the country in a big rig via the Tecate Cargo Facility, according to the agency.

Officers again grew suspicious of the vehicle.

“CBP officers conducted a physical examination of the tractor-trailer and discovered 65 packages hidden within the flatbed of the trailer,” the statement said.

The packages were found to contain 697 pounds of methamphetamine and 73 pounds of cocaine, authorities said.

437 pounds pulled from flatbed trailer

Another commercial vehicle came through the port of entry on Feb. 17.

A drug-sniffing dog sounded an alert, leading officers to discover 38 packages of methamphetamine hidden in the floor of a flatbed trailer, according to CBP.

The drugs weighed 437 pounds.

Rosa Hernandez, who serves as director of both the Otay Mesa and Tecate ports of entry, commended the sharp eyes, and noses, of the human and canine officers.

“All CBP components are vital assets to our counter-narcotics operations and provide proficient layers of enforcement,,” she said. “Our staff is dedicated to the mission and will continue to protect our communities and stop the growth of transnational criminal organizations by applying officer’s skills and tools in our layered enforcement approach.”

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Trump said he would immediately halt all illegal entry at the border, adding that he would invoke an 18th-century law to carry out his plan to rid the country of people here without authorization.

“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders but refuses to defend American borders or, more importantly, its own people,” Trump said in his inauguration address in the Capitol rotunda.

In the months leading up to his election and inauguration, Trump promised to overhaul the immigration system and border security on “Day 1” through executive orders in a sidestep of the regular legislative process. At his noontime inauguration ceremony, Trump said he would sign the executive orders later Monday.

The executive branch has expansive authority on matters of immigration, but many of the president’s orders are certain to face swift legal challenge.

Trump has pledged the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, to be carried out under the direction of Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, architects of his first administration’s zero-tolerance policy that led to thousands of migrant parents being separated from their children. Trump’s attempts will be hampered without substantial additional funding from Congress, where Republicans hold slim majorities.

Illegal border crossings have fallen sharply over the last year, with current levels the lowest they’ve been since Trump left office. The emergency declaration allows Trump to unlock federal resources to fund construction of the border wall, as he did in 2019.

In June, the Biden administration began effectively blocking most migrants from seeking asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border. The restrictions didn’t apply to those who waited for appointments to enter legally at official ports of entry.

On Monday, hundreds of asylum seekers learned that use of CBP One, a phone app through which they made the appointments, had ended and their scheduled interviews had been canceled. Tens of thousands of migrants, some of whom had waited more than six months for an interview, are now stranded in Mexico. In recent months, more migrants had entered legally with CBP One appointments than those who were arrested after entering the U.S. illegally.

“As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” Trump said. “We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”

Another order would designate drug cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.

Other orders will bring back policies from Trump’s first term that Biden had discontinued, such as Remain in Mexico. Under that policy, asylum seekers must stay across the border as their asylum cases are being adjudicated.

Trump said he would end what conservatives refer to as “catch and release,” the practice of releasing migrants from custody while they await conclusions to what are often years-long cases in immigration court.

There is not enough space for federal authorities to detain all those in deportation proceedings. Last fiscal year, Congress funded 41,500 beds at a cost of $3.4 billion. As of Dec. 29, more than 39,000 immigrants were being detained pending deportation proceedings.

Trump said he would use the U.S. military for border security efforts.

“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil,” Trump said.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, last used during World War II to send people from Japan, Germany and Italy to internment camps, allows the president to arrest, imprison or deport immigrants from a country considered an enemy of the U.S. during wartime. Trump could use it to conduct rapid deportations without the typically required legal processes. But legal experts say courts would probably strike down Trump’s interpretation as beyond what the law allows.

Brad Jones, a political science professor at UC Davis, noted that many executive orders during Trump’s first term withstood court challenges, including those on the border wall and Remain in Mexico. With a conservative Supreme Court majority, challenges to him overstepping permissible powers may ultimately be knocked down, Jones said.

“These executive orders are, in my view, essentially setting the stage to think of the border as a war zone,” he said.

During a second speech in Emancipation Hall, Trump praised Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who has supported a crackdown at the border and bused migrants to liberal states such as New York and California. Trump repeated unfounded claims that nearly every country in the world was sending criminals to the U.S., saying Abbott had to deal with them himself. But, bragging about his promised border wall expansion, Trump signaled that soon Abbott’s situation would change.

“That wall will go up so fast,” he said.

The Trump administration has been planning a large immigration raid in Chicago this week, but Homan told news outlets that officials are reconsidering their plans because the leaked details put agents at risk. Other large immigrant communities, including Los Angeles, could be targeted in future raids.

In California, a 2018 law enacted in response to Trump’s first administration limits state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The California Values Act prevents local police from holding someone for extra time for transfer to immigration custody, but allows them to notify federal agents of a person’s release if they have certain felonies or high-level misdemeanor convictions.

Some local law enforcement leaders, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, have signaled a willingness to circumvent the law to help immigration agents carry out deportations. Attempts to circumvent the law will not be tolerated, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said. “We’re prepared to take action against any law enforcement agency that doesn’t follow the law,” Bonta said Friday.

Bonta said he also stands ready to fight Trump in court. The California Department of Justice sued the first Trump administration more than 100 times.

“If he tries to invoke the National Guard or the military to participate in his mass deportations, if he seeks to end birthright citizenship — a constitutional right — and that harms U.S. citizens, if he tries to attack sanctuary jurisdiction and status on the immigration side, we’re ready to act on day one,” Bonta said.

Some California immigrants are already on edge after Border Patrol agents carried out dozens of arrests around Bakersfield this month, questioning people at Home Depot, gas stations and on their way to work on farms.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the organization has organized a vigil Tuesday night to create a safe space for immigrants to gather and learn more about Trump’s initial executive orders. She emphasized that because Los Angeles is considered a natural disaster area, immigration agents should not be conducting enforcement operations there.

“The community of Los Angeles is concerned by what is coming, but we’re not cowering in panic,” Salas said.

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By Miriam Jordan and Jazmine Ulloa

It was just days into his first term when President Trump issued an order banning the entry of people from several predominantly Muslim countries. An SOS went out to immigration lawyers across New York to head to Kennedy Airport, where arriving passengers were already being detained.

By noon, hundreds of lawyers were interviewing relatives and friends of travelers who were being held, challenging their detention and drafting petitions for their release.

The mobilization that morning in 2017 spawned a network of hundreds of lawyers who are now ready to fight the crackdown on immigrants that Mr. Trump promised to carry out in a second term in office.

After his decisive victory over Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump is expected to name key cabinet choices in the coming days and weeks, including his nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

The Supreme Court upheld a version of the ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, which the Biden administration eliminated in 2021. But earlier this fall, Mr. Trump said he would “bring back the travel ban.”

During his campaign, Mr. Trump vowed to undertake the largest deportation effort in the nation’s history, though he skirted questions about whether the sweeps would target undocumented immigrants who had long lived in the country, people who had more recently crossed at the southern border or both. About 11 million undocumented people resided in the United States as of 2022, according to the Pew Research Center, with nearly two-thirds having been in the country for at least a decade.

While deporting millions of people would be all but impossible with current enforcement resources, Mr. Trump has said he would consider stationing American troops at the border with Mexico and working with governors to deploy the National Guard into the interior of the country.

In his victory speech early on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that voters had handed him “an unprecedented and powerful mandate” to pursue his agenda.

Indeed, the immigrant advocacy community will face a very different political landscape when Mr. Trump returns to the White House in January. Voter sentiment has shifted markedly, with far more Americans expressing concerns about immigration and a willingness to support tougher policies.

Unlike in 2016, when he won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote, Mr. Trump won both in this election, the first Republican to prevail in the national vote in two decades, after campaigning on harsh immigration policies. And he will enter office with a Supreme Court that counts three of his first-term nominees among the nine justices.

“We’re going to fix our borders, we’re going to fix everything about our country and we’ve made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that,” he said on Wednesday.

Lawyers for immigrants said they have been preparing for months for the possibility of large-scale workplace raids, roundups in immigrant enclaves, new restrictions on asylum, the expansion of detention and the termination of programs temporarily shielding some people from deportation.

“The Trump team might think they are ready,” said Camille Mackler, chief executive of Immigration Arc, who sent an SOS email that brought hundreds of lawyers to Kennedy Airport that day in 2017. “But so are we.”

Becca Heller, founder of the International Refugee Assistance Project, which sued the government over the Muslim ban, said that winning the popular vote was not a license to ignore the law. “He can’t act outside the bounds of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” she said.

Having battled one Trump administration, she and her allies are ready for a second, Ms. Heller said. “We literally have a blueprint of what they are planning to do, and so we had months and months to figure out how to protect people,” she said.

“Trump has told us what to expect — hate and persecution and concentration camps,” she said, referring to his team’s plans to use military funds to build “vast holding facilities.” “None of us have any illusions about what we are up against this time.”

The new president’s immigration agenda will have battle-tested allies in some of the country’s state capitals. A coalition of Republican attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton of Texas, have systematically challenged the Biden administration on key immigration policies.

The results have been mixed, with some challenges temporarily blocking President Biden’s efforts but others being turned back by the courts. The challenges have kept the fight over immigration in the news and on voters’ minds, and given the Biden administration even more to worry about.

While the states that have been mounting those legal fights are not likely to be challenging the incoming Trump administration, they could play a crucial role in carrying out some of the expected federal efforts on immigration, said Lenni Benson, a professor of immigration law at New York Law School.

After extensive civil rights litigation, Arizona’s attorney general opined in 2016 that sheriffs could enforce “a show-me-your-papers law,” as long as they asked for documents from every person arrested.

Mr. Trump, who made immigration his calling card again this campaign, is expected to issue a spate of executive orders on his first day in office, such as to seal the border and arrest undocumented immigrants, including ones in the interior of the country.

Mr. Trump’s immigration advisers have said that, while criminals would be prioritized in making arrests, no one unlawfully in the country would be spared, a shift from Mr. Biden and other presidents, who focused resources on targeting serious criminals.

Lawsuits are expected to pile up.

“We have spent the last nine months planning for this, and are prepared to go to court as often as necessary, just like the first time,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who argued many immigration cases, including one to halt the policy of separating migrant families at the border.

The A.C.L.U. filed many legal challenges against Trump policies during his first administration. It defeated his attempt to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census at the Supreme Court and won a settlement for the families split up at the border. In a full-page ad published in The Times’s print paper on Friday, the organization wrote an open letter to Mr. Trump, saying it planned to defend people’s rights “in the courts, at state legislatures and in the streets.”

Tom Homan, a senior immigration official in the last Trump administration who is expected to return to government, said on CBS’s “60 Minutes” last month that large-scale worksite raids would resume. Such operations, which can lead to the arrest of hundreds of unauthorized workers, are costly and complex, and have not been conducted under Mr. Biden.

Bruna Bouhid-Sollod, senior political director for United We Dream Action, a national group led by youngimmigrant activists, said the organization has been crafting plans for a second Trump presidency.

Those strategies include “know-your-rights” training, letter writing campaigns to encourage elected officials and public art and vigils to show support for undocumented immigrants.

One of the biggest concerns is the fate of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program known as DACA, which has shielded from deportation and granted work authorization to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Ms. Bouhid-Sollod said she was among many DACA recipients who joined United We Dream after Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, out of fear that Mr. Trump would kill the program. He tried to, but the Supreme Court kept the program in place in a 5-4 ruling, saying the Trump administration hadn’t followed proper procedures for ending it.

Since then, Texas and several other states have sued to end DACA, and a federal court ruling in their favor is under review by an appeals court that has several Trump-nominated judges and has embraced some of the most aggressive conservative arguments in American law.

And of course, the incoming Trump administration itself could try again to end DACA.

“We are cleareyed about the challenges ahead,” Ms. Bouhid-Sollod said. “That is the big difference between 2016 and 2024.”

Benjamin Johnson, the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the organization has long been analyzing Mr. Trump’s immigration promises, preparing litigation to challenge policies they believe would violate their clients’ rights to have their cases heard and fairly processed under the law.

In his campaign, Mr. Trump spoke of using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out mass deportations, a law under which people of Japanese descent were held in internment camps during World War II.

Mr. Trump also has said the deportations would be modeled after those under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose administration used sweeps, raids and blunt forms of racial profiling in the 1950s to round up and expel mostly Mexican and Mexican American laborers.

“He has threatened to use powers — some that haven’t been used in a century, since World War II — to arrest, detain and imprison people without any judicial review,” Mr. Johnson said, referring to Mr. Trump. “We are going to have to find ways to meet the moment.”

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Harris’ push to further restrict asylum claims moves beyond President Joe Biden’s policy on an issue where her rival, former President Donald Trump, has an edge with voters. She balanced tough talk on policing the border with calls for a better way to welcome immigrants legally.

“I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose either between securing our border and creating a system that is orderly, safe and humane,” Harris said. “We can and we must do both.”

In her first trip to the international boundary since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris chatted with local Border Patrol leaders as they strode along a rust-colored stretch of wall built during Barack Obama’s presidency. Temperatures in Douglas, Arizona, neared 100 degrees during a conversation that lasted about half an hour.

Later, Harris received a closed-door briefing at the Douglas port of entry on efforts to combat drug trafficking and improve the legal flow of goods and people across the border. Border Patrol agents have “a tough job” and deserve support to do it, she said.

Harris’ visit was designed as a rejoinder to Trump and his fellow Republicans, who have pounded her relentlessly over the Biden administration’s record on migration and fault the vice president for spending little time visiting the border during her time in the White House.

Immigration and border security are top issues in Arizona, the only battleground state that borders Mexico and one that contended with a record influx of asylum seekers last year. Voters favor Trump on migration, and Harris has gone on offense to improve her standing on the issue and defuse a key line of political attack for her opponent.

She used her remarks to challenge Trump’s own record on migration during his presidency, saying he did nothing to fix the legal immigration system or address an outdated asylum system. And she said he failed to solve a shortage of immigration judges and border agents.

Harris recounted how a sweeping bipartisan package aiming to overhaul the federal immigration system collapsed in Congress earlier this year after Trump urged top Republicans to oppose it.

“Donald Trump tanked it,” she said, so he could campaign on disorder at the border.

“He prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” Harris added. “And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games and their personal political future.”

After the immigration legislation stalled, the Biden administration announced rules that bar migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials deem that the southern border is overwhelmed. Since then, arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen.

Harris’ plan to exceed Biden’s efforts at the border would include more serious criminal charges for people who repeatedly cross illegally and require asylum claims to be made at ports of entry.

She used her trip to remind voters about her work as attorney general of California in confronting crime along the border. She talked about helping to prosecute drug- and people-smuggling gangs that operated transnationally and at the border.

The vice president’s trip to Douglas thrusts the issue of immigration into the brightest spotlight yet less than six weeks before Election Day.

Trump didn’t wait for her to arrive there before pushing back. He pointed Friday to purported data about criminals entering the U.S. illegally in a bid to link Harris to violent crimes committed by migrants. In a scathing diatribe, he said “blood is on her hands.”

“These are hard, tough, vicious criminals that are free to roam in our country,” Trump said at a manufacturing plant in Michigan.

Earlier in the week, he told voters that “when Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero.”

The Trump campaign has also countered with TV ads deriding the vice president as a failed “border czar.”

“Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here,” said one spot. However, estimates on how many people have entered the country illegally since the start of the Biden administration in 2021 vary widely.

Harris also never held the position of border czar. Instead, her assignment was to tackle the “root causes” of migration from three Central American nations — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — that were responsible for a significant share of border crossers.

As vice president, Harris has taken a long-term approach to an immediate problem, helping persuade multinational corporations and Latin American businesses to invest in the region. That, she argued, would create jobs and give locals more reasons to stay home rather than take the arduous trek north.

Still, Trump has continued to decry an “invasion” of border crossers.

Douglas, where Harris appeared, is an overwhelmingly Democratic border town in GOP-dominated Cochise County, where the Republicans on the board of supervisors are facing criminal charges for refusing to certify the 2022 election results. Trump was in the area last month, using a remote stretch of border wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a contrast between himself and Harris on border security.

The town of 16,000 people has strong ties to its much larger neighbor, Agua Prieta, Mexico, and a busy port of entry that’s slated for a long-sought upgrade. Many locals are as concerned with making legal border crossings more efficient as they are with combatting illegal ones.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate deal on border enforcement measures and Ukraine aid suffered a swift and total collapse Tuesday as Republicans withdrew support despite President Joe Biden urging Congress to “show some spine” and stand up to Donald Trump.

Just minutes after the Democratic president’s remarks at the White House, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell emerged from a GOP luncheon at the Capitol and acknowledged that the deal was dead.

“It looks to me and to most of our members that we have no real chance here to make a law,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters.

The split-screen moments in Washington represented a rapid turn of events that showed McConnell’s slipping control of his GOP conference, Trump’s growing influence, and Biden’s ability only to look on as a cornerstone of his foreign policy — halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance into Europe — crumbled in Congress.

Out of funds, the Pentagon is sending no more arms shipments to Kyiv just as the war — entering its third year — reaches a critical juncture. Ukraine is struggling with ammunition and personnel shortages while Russia is on the offensive, mounting relentless attacks.

“Every week, every month that passes without new aid to Ukraine means fewer artillery shells, fewer air defense systems, fewer tools for Ukraine to defend itself against this Russian onslaught,” Biden said. “Just what Putin wants.”

Biden had engaged for months with Senate leaders on a carefully negotiated plan to pair policies intended to curb illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border with $60 billion in wartime aid for Ukraine. The bill was intended to exhibit American strength around the world and would have also sent tens of billions of dollars more for Israel, other U.S. allies in Asia, the U.S. immigration system and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and Ukraine.

But after Republicans rejected the compromise, the president and Senate leaders are now stranded with no clear way to advance aid for Ukraine through Congress. They have run into a wall of opposition from conservatives — led by Trump — who reject the border proposal as insufficient and criticize Ukraine funding as wasteful.

Biden laid blame for the bill’s demise squarely on Trump — his likely Republican opponent in the November presidential election.

“For the last 24 hours he’s done nothing, I’m told, but reach out to Republicans in the House and the Senate and threaten them and try to intimidate them to vote against this proposal,” Biden said. “It looks like they’re caving. Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine and do what they know to be right.”

Democrats in the Capitol vented frustration at their colleagues as it became clear that the deal was done.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cast Tuesday as a “gloomy day here in the United States Senate” during a floor speech in which he scolded Republicans for backing away from the deal. He still dared them to vote against border security — an issue they have long championed.

“After months of good faith negotiations, after months of giving Republicans many of the things they asked for, Leader McConnell and the Republican conference are ready to kill the national security supplemental package even with border provisions they so fervently demand,” Schumer said.

Senators are still floundering for a way to get Ukraine funding through the Republican-controlled House. And after the border compromise collapsed Tuesday, some suggested jettisoning that portion from the package and advancing the aid for U.S. allies on their own.

But that idea also faces resistance in the Republican-controlled House, where House Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure from hardline conservatives not to bring any Ukraine funding up for a vote.

When asked about wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel Tuesday, he told reporters, “We have to deal with these measures and these issues independently and separately.”

House Republicans on Tuesday night failed to pass a separate $17.6 billion package of military aid for Israel. Hardline conservatives opposed the bill because the funding would not be offset by budget cuts in other areas. Democrats were also mostly opposed because it undermined the push for a comprehensive package that would include Ukraine and other allies in Asia.

The lack of a national security deal will loom large over Biden’s Friday meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Biden plans to underscore to Scholz that he remains committed to providing Ukraine the funding it needs to continue to repel the nearly two-year-old Russian invasion.

McConnell said in an earlier floor speech that it was essential to assert American strength in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, yet also blamed Biden for not responding sooner to threats from rival powers.

“Either we confront challenges we face with clear strategy and firm resolve or we lose,” McConnell said.

But he reacted with frustration when he was later asked by reporters whether he misread his colleague’s demands for border policy. “I followed the instructions of my conference, who were insisting that we tackle this in October,” he said. “I mean, it’s actually our side that wanted to tackle the border issue. We started it.”

After Trump excoriated the compromise, however, the longtime Republican leader has not been able to convince his conference to support the proposal. Within hours of the bill’s release Sunday, Johnson said he would not support it, and even GOP senators who had been supportive of the border policies under discussion came out against the bill on Tuesday.

“The politics of this were a big factor,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican. “When the speaker said basically the Senate bill is dead on arrival. And then President Trump weighs in and discourages Republicans from voting for it.”

In light of their refusal to support the bill, some congressional Republicans have shifted to blaming Biden, suggesting that he already has the authority to halt the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, a vast oversimplification of the matter.

The Trump campaign said in a statement that “America does not need a ‘border’ bill that does nothing to deter illegal immigration. We need a President who will use his executive authority to shut the border down.”

The border proposal represented one of the most conservative and comprehensive proposals in decades to emerge from a bipartisan negotiation in Congress. It would seek to tamp down the historic number of illegal border crossings by making the asylum process tougher and faster. Presidential administrations would also be given authority to deny migrants from claiming asylum at the border if the number of migrants claiming asylum becomes unmanageable for authorities.

Biden called the proposal “the most fair, humane reforms in our immigration system in a long time, and the toughest set of reforms to secure the border ever.”

But Republicans have largely heeded the wishes of Trump to reject the bill because it would show that Biden could act to address problems at the border, which is seen as one of his largest vulnerabilities in his reelection campaign.

“Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis,” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming in a statement.

But Biden too suggested he would make the Republican rejection of border policies a campaign issue, saying, “I’ll be taking this issue to the country and the voters are going to know that.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As Senate Republicans blocked the advance of tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance for Ukraine Wednesday, President Joe Biden berated their tactics as “stunning” and dangerous. Yet he also signaled an openness to what GOP lawmakers ultimately want: border policy changes.

Biden at the White House warned of dire consequences for Kyiv — and a “gift” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin – if Congress fails to pass a $110 billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel as well as other national security priorities. Hours later, Senate Republicans defiantly voted to stop the package from advancing, something that they had threatened to do all week.

“They’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process,” Biden said.

But even as he lashed Republicans for their stance, Biden stressed that he is willing to “make significant compromises on the border,” if that’s what it takes to get the package through Congress.

That statement has raised at least some hope that progress can be made in the days ahead as the Senate grinds through negotiations on border security, one of the most fraught issues in American politics. Biden’s remarks Wednesday were his clearest overture yet to Republicans and came at a critical time, with a path through Congress for the emergency funds rapidly disappearing and America’s support for multiple allies in doubt.

“If we don’t support Ukraine, what is the rest of the world going to do?” Biden added.

The president’s statement came hours after he huddled virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of the Group of Seven advanced democracies, which have staunchly supported Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

“We need to fix the broken border system. It is broken,” Biden said, adding that he’s ”ready to change policy as well.” He did not name specific policy proposals and accused Republicans of wanting a political issue more than bipartisan compromise.

Sen. James Lankford, the Oklahoma Republican who has been leading Senate negotiations over border policy, was encouraged by what he heard, saying it seemed like the president is “ready to be able to sit down and talk.”

Senators of both parties acknowledged they will need to move quickly if a deal is to be struck. Congress is scheduled to be in Washington for just a handful more days before the end of the year. The White House, meanwhile, has sounded the alarm about what would happen if they don’t approve more funding soon, saying Ukraine’s military would be stalled, or even overrun.

“When deadlines come, everybody’s undivided attention is there and we realize: ’OK. Now it’s time to actually solve this,’” Lankford said.

Democrats involved in the negotiations also said a direct hand from the president, as well as from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, could be helpful.

“This kind of thorny, difficult problem is exactly what Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell have worked on before. And we could use their help and their leadership on this,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., another negotiator.

So far, McConnell, while an ardent supporter of Ukraine aid, has sided with Republicans who are holding firm against the security package unless it includes changes to America’s border policies. Every Republican voted against it advancing Wednesday evening.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the failed test vote a “a sad night in the history of the Senate and our country.” He urged Republicans to present a border proposal that is “serious, instead of the extreme policies they have presented thus far.”

Republican negotiators were expected to send a new proposal to Democrats after the failed vote.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has been involved in the negotiations, said the Republicans’ hard-charging bargain left little room for agreement and he remained skeptical that a deal can be struck.

“They have to figure out whether they want to negotiate or whether they want to make take-it-or-leave-it demands,” Murphy said.

Republicans argue the record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border pose a security threat because border authorities cannot adequately screen them. They also say they cannot justify to their constituents sending billions of dollars to other countries while failing to address the border at home.

So far, senators have found agreement on raising the initial standard for migrants to enter the asylum system. But they’ve been at odds over placing limitations on humanitarian parole, a program that allows the executive branch to temporarily admit migrants without action from Congress.

But Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said the Senate talks were “never going to be able to negotiate the kind of meaningful substantive policy changes” that Republicans want. He called Biden’s remarks “positive” and said the negotiations should next include the president, McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The president’s willingness to directly engage on the issue comes at a political risk. Immigrant advocates and some Democratic senators have sounded alarm about curtailing the asylum system.

Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who led a statement with 10 other senators last month calling for an increase in legal immigration to be included in negotiations, said he would be watching closely what Biden agrees to on border security.

“Devil’s in the details,” Padilla said, adding that the direction of the Senate talks have been “concerning from day one.”

Even if the president and senators somehow find a way forward on border security, any agreement would face significant obstacles in the House. Hardline conservatives who control the chamber have vowed to block it unless it tacks to a broad set of forceful border and immigration policies.

Johnson, who as speaker has already expressed deep skepticism of funding for Ukraine, has signaled he won’t support the aid package if it does not adhere to H.R. 2, a bill that would remake the U.S. immigration system with conservative priorities.

“The American people deserve nothing less.” Johnson said in a statement.

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As war and winter collide, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged during a recent visit to Washington that the days ahead “will be tough” as his country battles Russia while U.S. support from Congress hangs in the balance.

President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other needs sits idle in Congress, neither approved nor rejected, but subjected to new political demands from Republicans who are insisting on U.S.-Mexico border policy changes to halt the flow of migrants.

Linking Ukraine’s military assistance to U.S. border security interjects one of the most divisive domestic political issues — immigration and border crossings — into the middle of an intensifying debate over wartime foreign policy.

When Congress returns this coming week from the holiday break, Biden’s request will be a top item on the to-do list, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Failure risks delaying U.S. military aid to Kyiv and Israel, along with humanitarian assistance for Gaza, in the midst of two wars, potentially undermining America’s global standing. “It’s coming at a crucial time,” said Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, which recently hosted Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, at the discussion in Washington. “We’re running out of money,” Coffey said in an interview. What just a year ago was overwhelming support for Ukraine’s young democracy as it reaches for an alliance with the West to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion has devolved into another partisan fight in the United States.

Members of Congress overwhelmingly support Ukraine, embracing Zelenskyy as they did when he arrived on a surprise visit last December to a hero’s welcome. But the continued delivery of U.S. military and government aid is losing favor with a hard-right wing of Republican lawmakers and with some Americans. Nearly half of the U.S. public thinks the country is spending too much on aid to Ukraine, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Rather than approve Biden’s request, which includes $61 billion for Ukraine, Republicans are demanding something in return.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said the “best way” to ensure GOP support for Ukraine is for Biden and Democrats to accept border policy changes that would limit the flow of migrants across the border with Mexico. “It’s connected,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. To that end, a core group of senators, Republicans and Democrats, have been meeting privately to come up with a border policy solution that both parties could support, unlocking GOP votes for the Ukraine aid.

On the table are asylum law changes pushed by the Republicans that would make it more difficult for migrants to enter the United States, even if they claim they are in danger, and reduce their release on parole while awaiting judicial proceedings. Republicans also want to resume construction of the border wall. Democrats call these essentially nonstarters, and the border security talks are going slowly.

Those who have worked on immigration-related issues for years see a political disaster in the making for all sides — Ukraine included. “I think it’s terrible that we’re in the position we’re in,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “But you know, we were talking all through the night and talking all day today,” he said recently, “trying to find a path forward.” He added: “I’m not confident we’ll get there.”

Republicans, even defense hawks who strongly back Ukraine, insist the money must come with U.S. border provisions. “The reality is, if President Biden wants Ukraine aid to pass we’re going to have to have substantial border policy changes,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., often a McConnell ally on defense issues.

The White House has requested roughly $14 billion for border security in its broader package, with money for more border patrol officers, detention facilities and judges to process immigration cases. It also includes stepped-up inspections to stop the flow of deadly fentanyl. Biden and his national security team recently with key senators of both parties. With Congress narrowly split, Republicans holding slim majority control of the House and Democrats a close edge in the Senate, bipartisan agreement will almost certainly be required for any legislation to advance.

Pentagon funding for Ukraine is rapidly dwindling. The Defense Department has the authority to take about $5 billion worth of equipment from its stockpiles to send to Ukraine, but only has about $1 billion to replenish those stocks. So military leaders are worried about the effect on U.S. troop readiness and equipping. The need for an infusion of funding is growing “by the day” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh.

Overall, half the $113 billion Congress has approved for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 has gone to the Defense Department, according to the Congressional Research Service. The dollars are being spent to build Ukraine’s armed forces, largely by providing U.S. military weapons and equipment, and replenish U.S. stockpiles. Much of the rest goes to emergency and humanitarian aid and to support the government of Ukraine through the World Bank.

National security experts have watched the Ukrainian forces repurpose outdated American equipment that was headed for decommissioning and use it to obliterate aspects of the Russian armed forces. McConnell has noted that much of the spending stays in the U.S., flowing to defense production in states across the nation. “Ukraine is at a critical point,” said Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The Russians are just counting on us to give up and walk away — and then they walk in.”

But even border security provisions may not be enough to with over Republicans who are growing increasingly skeptical of Biden’s vow to support Ukraine as long as it takes to defeat Russia. One Republican, Rep. Mike Garcia of California, is trying to bridge the GOP divide by separating the military funds from money the U.S. spends on the Kyiv government, and pushing the Biden administration to be more open about presenting a strategy for the war’s endgame. Garcia, who drafted a 14-page report that new Speaker Mike Johnson delivered during a recent White House meeting, said even with border security, Republicans will not approve the full amount for Ukraine that Biden has requested. “If the Ukraine budget part of it is still $61 billion, that ain’t the right answer,” said Garcia, a former Navy fighter pilot who flew combat missions during the Iraq War.

Other Republicans, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a Donald Trump ally, have drawn an even deeper line against Ukraine aid. Yermak, during his talk in Washington, was thankful for U.S. support, and blunt about the need for more. “I tell you the truth, this winter will be tough for us,” he said, urging Americans to back Ukraine at this “historical moment for all of us.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress returns to session this week, lawmakers will be trying to forge an agreement on sending a new round of wartime assistance to Ukraine. But to succeed, they will have to find agreement on an issue that has confounded them for decades.

Republicans in both chambers of Congress have made clear that they will not support additional aid for Ukraine unless it is paired with border security measures to help manage the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Their demand has injected one of the most contentious issues in American politics into a foreign policy debate that was already difficult.

Time is short for a deal.

A small, bipartisan group in the Senate is taking the lead and working to find a narrow compromise that can overcome a likely filibuster by winning 60 votes. But even if they can reach a modest agreement, there is no guarantee it would pass the House, where Republicans are insisting on wholesale changes to U.S. border and immigration policies.

Republicans hope that Democrats will feel political pressure to accept some of their border proposals after illegal crossings topped a daily average of more than 8,000 earlier this fall. President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection next year, has faced pressure even from fellow Democrats over the migrant flow.

No matter what, finding compromise will be exceedingly difficult. As they left for Thanksgiving break, Senate negotiators said they were still far apart.

A look at some of the issues under discussion and why they have proved so difficult to resolve:

Asylum and humanitarian parole

Changing the asylum system for migrants is a top priority for Republicans. They want to make it more difficult for asylum-seekers to prove in initial interviews that they have a credible fear of political, religious or racial persecution in their home country before advancing toward asylum in the United States.

Republicans in the House have passed legislation that would detain families at the border, require migrants to make the asylum claim at an official port of entry and either detain them or require them to remain outside the U.S. while their case is processed.

U.S. and international law give migrants the right to seek safety from persecution, but the number of people applying for asylum in the U.S. has reached historic highs. Critics say many people take advantage of the system to live and work in the U.S. while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed in court.

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who is part of the Senate negotiations, said in an Arizona radio interview that one of lawmakers’ goals is to ensure that “those who are here seeking asylum have an actual claim to asylum.”

Compromise is far from certain. Many Democrats are wary of making it harder to flee persecution, and the details of each policy shift are contentious.

Hardline conservatives in the House, already unlikely to support further Ukraine aid, have also signaled they won’t accept policy changes that deviate much from a bill passed in May that would have remade the U.S. immigration system. Their stance means at least some support from House Democrats will be needed to pass any agreement — no easy task.

Some progressives have already said they will oppose any Republican-led changes to immigration policy.

“The cruel, inhumane, and unworkable solutions offered by Republicans will only create more disorder and confusion at the border,” said Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Infrastructure and enforcement

Lawmakers may find it easier to reach consensus on other areas of border policy, particularly when it comes to border staffing and enforcement.

Negotiators have looked at steps that could be taken to reinforce existing infrastructure at the border, including hiring and boosting pay for border patrol officers and improving technology. One proposal advanced by a bipartisan group of senators would call for hiring of more border patrol agents, raising their pay and ensuring they receive overtime.

Biden has shown a willingness to accept tougher enforcement measures, recently resuming deportation of migrants to Venezuela and waiving federal laws to allow for the construction of border wall that began under then-President Donald Trump. The White House also wants to install new imaging technology at ports of entry that would allow authorities to quickly scan vehicles for illegal imports, including fentanyl.

Republicans say that is not enough. They want more robust improvements, including more expansive construction of a border wall.

What Biden is asking for

Biden’s emergency request to Congress included aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, along with $14 billion to bolster the immigration system and border security. Money would go toward hiring more border patrol agents, immigration judges and asylum officers. It’s part of Biden’s strategy of trying to simultaneously turn away from Trump’s hard-line policies but adapt to the realities of crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Still, polls indicate widespread frustration with Biden’s handling of immigration and the border, creating a political vulnerability as he seeks reelection. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the Senate Appropriations Committee this month that the administration has been faced with a “global phenomenon” of displaced people migrating in numbers that have not been seen since World War II.

“It is unanimous that our broken immigration system is in dire need of reform,” Mayorkas said.

Democrats have other immigration priorities, such as expanding legal immigration pathways or work authorizations for migrants already in the U.S. Democrats have also warned about the danger of delaying aid to Ukraine as it enters another winter of war against Russia.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said it’s a mistake to create a situation where “we have to do significant immigration reform in the next few weeks or we won’t send money to assist the people in Ukraine or other causes important to our national security.”

Republicans have so far been adamant about the need to address Ukraine and the border at the same time.

Rep. Mike Turner, a strong supporter of aid to Ukraine and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he thought passing Biden’s package would be “very difficult” to accomplish by year’s end. “The impediment currently is the White House policy on the on the southern border,” said Turner, R-Ohio.

What’s likely not on the table

Lawmakers seem unlikely to address one of the nation’s long-standing immigration issues: granting some form of permanent legal status to thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Republicans have made clear that will not be addressed in this package, which they want to be more narrowly focused on border security measures.

As Congress struggled to pass a comprehensive immigration overhaul, President Barack Obama launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012 to shield those immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the country. But it has been caught up in the courts ever since, and Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, tried to end it when he was in the White House.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, one of the Senate negotiators, would not say early last week whether his side had proposed DACA provisions as part of the talks. But he said any deal “has to respect both Republican and Democratic priorities.”

“The more Republicans want, the more Democrats are going to want,” Murphy said.

Republicans argue that Ukraine aid could be a tough sell to some of their voters, and the border policy is the compromise.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican who has been involved in the talks, said before the Thanksgiving holiday that the negotiations were not “very close yet, because Democrats have not yet accepted that the negotiations are not border security for Democratic immigration priorities. It’s border security for Ukraine aid.”

So far, leaders in both parties have encouraged the talks. But as senators restart their work and face pressure to approve funding by the end of the year, some are warning that a narrow deal is likely the best that they can do.

“I don’t think it’s realistic to solve anywhere close to the whole problem in the next two weeks,” Murphy said.

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