Senate Starts “Secret” Talks About Bipartisan Border Deal

A small, bipartisan group of senators have been quietly sketching out a possible new border deal for early 2025, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Border and immigration reform is the white whale of Congress. It’s also President-elect Trump’s No. 1 priority.

• Top Senate Republicans plan to move quickly on a border package, using the budget reconciliation process to get it done.
• But the idea of a bipartisan border deal that could get 60 votes has popped up as GOP infighting drags on over the best path forward in Trump’s first 100 days.

Zoom in: At least two Trump-state Democrats have been involved in the conversations, which Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) described as “very” serious and the details “very secret.”

• “If we can do border separately — without reconciliation — then [Trump’s] okay with” one reconciliation package, Mullin, who’s been a key link between Trump, the Senate and the House, told Axios.
• Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is one of those Democrats.: “If there’s willingness to work in a bipartisan way to do some stuff, not only on border security, but on immigration reform, I think it would be great.”

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Between the lines: Politics have shifted on the border, with many Democrats — especially in states Trump won — moving to the right and embracing stricter enforcement measures to stem illegal border crossings and drug smuggling.

• Trump may have further made an opening by suggesting he would be willing to provide protections for DACA recipients —people who illegally entered the country as children.

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