A bipartisan border bill that was shot down in Congress in February is expected to be back on the Senate floor for another vote later this week.
This time around, the bill is standalone, not tied to aid for Ukraine or Israel.
The bill was negotiated earlier this year by Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I), Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy (D), and Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford (R).
The main highlights of the bill, according to Senator Sinema back in February, provide a speedier process for true asylum seekers, increase the number of detention beds, and hire more Border Patrol agents to process people quicker.
If the number of migrants crossing illegally exceeds 4,000 a day for seven days in a row, the border would temporarily shut down.
Republicans in congress have already called the bill "dead on arrival."
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway has been in favor of the bill since it was first announced.
"It did have things in it that were very advantageous for us, like money for immigration judges right at the border, and staff paralegals, administrative staff, so that these decisions can be made right at the border instead of being kicked down the road for years and years pending a hearing." Sheriff Hathaway continued, "We need to have a system that's efficient to process these visas right at the border, to actually make the decisions at the border. Like on this chaotic asylum system, they can't even work once they're granted asylum, they have to be in the US for 6 months before they can even be considered for a work permit."
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has been against the border bill from the beginning.
"They're saying come in and we're going to expedite it. That's not appropriate. That's what the remain in Mexico program was, or the remain in whatever country you're in until you have an opportunity to see a judge." Lamb continued, "The problem with the border bill that they were trying to run before, it's really just treating the symptoms as opposed to actually fixing the problem. They're wanting to put more Border Patrol agents on, but really we should allow the Border Patrol agents to do their job. Because of the amount of people coming in, they've become glorified babysitters."
ABC15 also reached out to Sheriff Mark Lamb's opponents in the race for U.S. Senate. Kari Lake, who opposed to the bill in February did not respond to ABC15's request.
Congressman Ruben Gallego shared a statement in part, "I am glad to hear the Senate is reconsidering addressing the crisis at our southern border, and while it is not perfect, I will support the package if it is considered in the House."
