A bipartisan group of senators say they are close to reaching a deal that could define the future of immigration and border security in the United States. But some notable voices are missing from the conversation.
The working group, led by three senators, Oklahoma Republican James Lankford, Arizona Independent Kyrsten Sinema and Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, does not include any Latino lawmakers, and Sinema is the only senator in the group from a state that touches the southern border. That reality, as well as the closed-door nature of the negotiations, has rankled both Democrats and Republicans left out of the talks.
“I think if the group was more inclusive, and what we heard was at the table was more thoughtful and truly solution-oriented, we could have made progress by now,” California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla told NOTUS on Thursday, noting that Latino lawmakers should have been more involved from the beginning, as well as Democrats from border states.