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Key Republican and Democrat Senators are nearing a compromise agreement with the Biden White House on a border security package linked to more money for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. This is shaping up to be a dangerous deal that would compromise the American people’s safety and well-being. Instead of continuing to insist that major immigration policy changes and more funding to fully enforce U.S. border security are the first priorities, above any further foreign entanglements, some Senate Republicans are getting cold feet. They appear willing to accept a half-baked deal with Senate Democrats and an open border administration who cannot be relied upon to keep their word.

The negotiators have reportedly agreed to stop taking into the country any more illegal immigrants on a given day once the intake level exceeds a daily threshold, which could be set at around five thousand per day. Allowing five thousand new immigrants to enter the country illegally every day would amount to a yearly total of 1,825,000. That is better than the current huge numbers of illegal immigrants whom the Biden administration has been waving in so far, but still much higher than it should be. And that does not even count the hundreds of thousands of gotaways scattered across the country at unknown locations.

Senate negotiators have also reportedly agreed in principle to curb the parole program under which migrants from certain countries are permitted to remain in the United States temporarily for humanitarian or other reasons that are supposedly in the public interest. But even if the Biden administration stops abusing this program by no longer admitting enormous numbers of immigrants from such countries as Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, Columbia, Cuba, and Afghanistan, restricting the use of parole is only a half-measure. Under the administration’s far more outrageous catch-and-release program, millions of unvetted immigrants, who have come to the United States from all over the world since the Biden administration took office, have been apprehended and then released into the country’s interior. They can remain free to live  in the United States for years until their asylum claims are heard.

Catch-and-release must be replaced by deport or detain.

The negotiators have been haggling over how much more money to throw at the problems created by the Biden administration’s own open border policies. But unless that money is used to build a virtually insurmountable wall and to hire thousands more Border Patrol agents assigned only to guard the border and prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country, the additional funding will be wasted.

As one Border Patrol agent, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, “No one wants to do this job. It’s thankless, long hours, and then we rarely if ever see the fruits of our labor. We didn’t sign up to be Uber drivers or babysitters just letting tons of aliens in.” A second Border Patrol agent said that “babysitting illegal aliens who get free flights and phones probably isn’t something people want to do,” adding that “my agency lost what its purpose is, it’s not doing what it was meant for. To keep the bad guys out and protect the Constitution of the United States.” A third agent remarked that “It has been made very clear by this current administration, that rather than accept full responsibility for the current and ongoing illegal immigration crisis that they caused, they’ve chosen to scapegoat Border Patrol agents time and time again.”

Providing more money to recruit and hire additional Border Patrol agents to babysit illegal immigrants and process their asylum claims will be throwing more good money after bad.

The Biden administration is talking out of both sides of its mouth. On the one hand, the administration claims that it wants to work with Republicans to enhance border security. But on the other hand, it refuses to work with Texas, which is being overrun by illegal immigrants, to achieve real security at the southern border with Mexico. In fact, the Biden administration went to court recently, seeking an order permitting Border Patrol agents to cut through razor-wire fencing that Texas had installed near the border to protect its residents from the illegal immigrant invasion. After the Supreme Court, by a narrow 5-4 majority, gave Border Patrol agents a green light to do just that, at least temporarily, the administration celebrated.

No mention has been made in public accounts of the Senate negotiations so far about reviving the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy in dealing with asylum claimants. This highly successful policy should be codified in any new legislation. Also, the legislation should require asylum-seekers to first apply for asylum either at the U.S. consulate in their country of origin or in the first safe country they transit through before being allowed to apply for asylum in the United States. President Biden promised that he would implement this policy, but he was not serious. The new legislation should deprive the president of any discretion to waive this requirement.

The negotiators are reportedly considering more restrictive asylum provisions for inclusion in the new legislation. But unless all asylum loopholes are closed for good, and the Biden administration does what it has not done to date – fully enforce the law – the new legislation will not be worth the paper it is written on.

For example, there needs to be explicit language in the new legislation stating that domestic violence, gang crime, and economic hardship do not constitute “persecution” and are not legal grounds for gaining asylum in the United States. There must be proof of government-sponsored persecution based on race, religion, nationality, or political beliefs. For countries of origin where there is no objective evidence from reliable sources of such persecution, the new legislation should require the asylum seeker to present verifiable proof of government-sponsored persecution or threats of persecution directed specifically against that individual.

Trained Border Patrol agents performing the initial screening of apprehended illegal immigrants must have broad legislative authority to vet the immigrants and immediately remove those asylum-seekers who they determine are a clear and present danger to the American people. There is no excuse for allowing any known or suspected terrorists on the terrorist watch list or gang members into the country. Yet the Biden administration has allowed many hundreds of suspected terrorists and violent criminals into the United States.

Border Patrol agents must stop processing asylum paperwork and cutting through razor-wire fencing. Instead, they need to be fully deployed at the border to apprehend and remove these dangerous individuals from the country immediately. Unfortunately, President Biden can be expected to bend to the wishes of his left-wing base and continue holding back the Border Patrol agents from doing their real job.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking for House Republican members, is not sold on the outlines of the compromise being hashed out on the other side of Capitol Hill. “We’re not playing politics with this, we’re demanding real, transformative policy change,” Speaker Johnson said.

President Biden is playing politics with the border issue. His top priority is to get a deal that would free up more money for Ukraine especially. If the president can get through Congress something that looks like a “bipartisan” fix to the current border crisis, he will take credit for supposedly two achievements at once – immigration reform and more money for America’s allies. If House Republicans block the Senate’s compromise bill from passing in the House, Biden will no doubt try to make this part of his “save democracy from the MAGA extremists” campaign message and divert attention from his own policy failures. But if a compromise bill is not filibustered in the Senate, the House Republican majority must take any political brickbats thrown their way and stand up against a package deal that does virtually nothing to truly secure the border.

The immigration crisis now tops the list of the American people’s most serious concerns, even ahead of the economy. No so-called “bipartisan” deal with the Biden administration and Democrats will come close to solving the problem. The only way to stop the surge of illegal immigrants invading the United States is to defeat the current occupant in the White House who allowed the invasion to happen in the first place.