US Senate border security bill: What you need to know

Hours after being introduced, the bill is struggling amid Republican and Democratic differences.

Democratic leaders in the US Senate have unveiled a $118bn bill that would boost border security and provide wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine. But the fate of the new proposal, backed by some Republican senators, looks uncertain after House Speaker Mike Johnson denounced it, saying it’s not tough enough on migrants.

Here is more to know:

After months of negotiations, United States senators have finally produced a 370-page bill, which would give the government emergency powers to refuse entry to migrants crossing the border or to quickly expel those who had already entered the US. Those powers would not restrict the entry of US citizens or others with a legal basis to come to the country.

The new bill has introduced the concept of a trigger, which will be tripped when the number of migrants encountering border officials crosses an average of 5,000 over the course of a week. The bill also gives the president the power to shut the southern border with Mexico if more than 4,000 migrants attempt to cross the border in a week.

The bill would require the government to process at least 1,400 migrants per day at border crossings, and would maintain some protections for people who fear torture or persecution after being deported. And it caps the number of days the emergency powers can be used each year.