Senate Republicans have reportedly agreed to a bill that would encompass both aid to Ukraine and Israel and some purportedly new authorities for President Biden to increase security at our southern border. Let’s set aside the foreign aid questions for the moment.  The first question is whether the Senate deal will force Biden to change his open border policy. The answer is a thunderous “no.” To begin with‚ it’s perfectly clear that there is no need for new legislation to enhance Biden’s authority to control illegal immigration. Laws already on the books give him more than enough power to slow — and stop – illegal immigration. Biden refuses to exercise the powers he already has to do that. How could anyone believe that he’s going to exercise new power when he’s done everything possible to keep the border open for nearly four years? As this column has pointed out frequently‚ a nation without borders is not a nation. The situation on our borders — both north and south — is a critical danger to our national security. Illegal immigrants also bring crime and are‚ disproportionally‚ a burden on the states’ public welfare systems. (READ MORE from Jed Babbin: SCOTUS Can Help Drain the Swamp by Overturning Chevron) We know that among the approximately eight million people who have entered the U.S. illegally since Biden became president‚ there are hundreds (thousands?) of men of military age. They come from countries such as China‚ Russia‚ Somalia‚ and too many other nations that are our adversaries. Last week ten high-ranking former FBI officials wrote a letter to Congress in which they said‚ “In its modern history‚ the U.S. has never suffered an invasion of the homeland and‚ yet‚ one is unfolding now. Military aged men from across the globe‚ many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States‚ are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands … by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected with ready access granted.” There had been about ten thousand illegals coming in daily‚ a figure that has dropped in recent weeks. Biden has caused this crisis through his open-border policy. He has allowed people who may be terrorists‚ spies‚ and saboteurs into the nation without limit. Is it worth delaying the aid to Ukraine and Israel in order to fix the border crisis? Yes. Is it worth shutting down the government over it? Yes. At the core of Biden’s dangerous policy is the assumption that all illegals’ requests for asylum are justified. That leads to the wrongheaded policy that all should be paroled into the U.S. until their asylum claims are adjudicated. The new deal — which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) has already rejected — would allow four thousand people per day to enter the U.S. and only give the president the authority to close the border to others if the daily number rises to five thousand a day (measured weekly) or more than 8‚500 in a single day. Under the Senate bill‚ the authority to close the border to more than the daily quota would be triggered automatically if the weekly or daily figures are exceeded‚ and the Department of Homeland Security is supposedly required to deny those exceeding the quotas entry. But those people would in fact be admitted to the U.S. and then detained until their asylum claims were adjudicated. (READ MORE: Gov. Abbott‚ Send Every Illegal to Washington‚ D.C.‚ From Now On) There are too many problems with this approach to catalogue here‚ but let’s hit a few. First‚ the establishment of the entry quotas legitimates illegal immigration. Set aside those “gotaways” who evade the Border Patrol and successfully enter the U.S. unknown to any part of our government. No Republican — really‚ no American — should vote to legitimize any illegal immigration. (As an aside‚ remember what Kammy Harris said last week. The Democrats’ objective is to legitimize illegal immigration and create a path to citizenship — which means voting rights — for the illegals. No one who comes into the U.S. illegally should ever be eligible for citizenship.) Second‚ no one can believe that Biden or DHS Secretary Alejandro Majorkas would ever use the authority that the Senate deal gives them. The senate bill reportedly gives them discretion to use the authority in “certain circumstances” which‚ under Biden‚ will never arise. Third‚ the Senate bill purportedly tightens asylum eligibility and would penalize repeat offenders by barring them from entry for a year. Why shouldn’t repeat offenders be barred permanently? Biden said on Friday that he would welcome the new quotas and is “excited” to exercise new border powers‚ but he demands new legislation before he does so. Again‚ no new laws are necessary. How could anyone believe that he’s going to exercise new power when he’s done everything possible to keep the border open for nearly four years? Simply put‚ no one can. Also on Friday‚ Speaker Johnson wrote a letter to the Republican House Caucus saying that the Senate bill would be “dead on arrival” in the House. Johnson wrote‚ If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true‚ it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway. Nine months have now passed since we sent our Secure the Border Act (HR 2) to the Senate. As we have explained repeatedly‚ that bill contains the core legislative reforms that are necessary to actually compel the Biden administration to resolve the border catastrophe. The bill’s provisions include transformative corrections‚ such as the “Remain in Mexico” policy‚ the end of “Catch and Release‚” meaningful reforms to the existing broken asylum and parole systems‚ and continued construction of a wall at our southern border. Since the day I became Speaker‚ I have assured our Senate colleagues the House would not accept any counterproposal if it would not actually solve the problems that have been created by the administration’s subversive policies. Johnson has drawn a red line against the Senate bill and he must stick to it. Biden will never agree to his conditions‚ so the border legislation cannot be enacted. This column will always support aid to Israel and Ukraine because we have national security interests that require it. In Ukraine‚ it’s a derivative interest in stopping Putin. In Israel‚ it’s a vital national security interest that compels our assistance at every level. (READ MORE: Biden Urged Oppressed to Cross Border. Now There Are Caravans) Biden and the Dems insist that the border legislation should be decoupled from aid to Israel and Ukraine. If Johnson and House Republicans agree to decoupling the measures they will instantly give up their leverage on the border crisis. They can’t. Israel is continuing the war Hamas started with its October 7 attacks. It will do so with or without our help. As I’ve written elsewhere‚ Biden is trying to force Israel into a bad deal that will leave Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip and continuing its threat to Israel. At this point‚ Israel is better off without Biden’s “assistance.” Ukraine‚ on the other hand‚ is not doing well. Its armed forces are losing the war of attrition Russia is waging against it. The NATO/European Union nations are not doing what they should to aid Ukraine. We need to help both Ukraine and Israel. But those aid packages will have to wait until Biden is forced to change his policy on the border. Biden is agreeing to the Senate bill’s supposed limits on illegal immigration only because he believes that to not at least pretend to limit illegal immigration would hand the election to Trump. Johnson needs to stick to his guns. Let’s hope Trump will again focus on the border issue and regain the presidency. READ MORE from Jed Babbin: Hitting the Houthis and Other Biden Mistakes Israel’s Implacable Court Foreseeable Consequences   The post Another Bad Border Deal appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.