SAN ANTONIO – (Update: The briefing is over. Please check back for more livestreams on KSAT.com).
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Reps. Henry Cuellar and Tony Gonzales are expected to announce a bill to address the influx of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
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The lawmakers will hold a virtual news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday. The news conference will be livestreamed in this article; if there is not a livestream available, check back at a later time.
Cornyn’s press office said the bipartisan legislation will address capacity, asylum claims and the protection for unaccompanied children.
The bill would also “reduce impact on local communities, ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely, and ultimately deter those who do not have realistic asylum claims from placing themselves in danger by making the treacherous journey to our southern border,” his office said.
According to the Associated Press, Customs and Border Protection is turning away most adult migrants attempting to enter the U.S. under a public health order issued at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Biden administration is allowing unaccompanied minors and some families to remain, at least temporarily, while authorities determine whether they can stay through the asylum process or under some other legal category.
Biden administration officials blame the rising number of migrants at the southwest border on a number of factors, including two recent hurricanes that struck Central America and the economic ravages of COVID-19 in the region.
Critics blame the administration’s moves to reverse some of the hundreds of measures taken under President Donald Trump to curb both legal and illegal immigration and support for legislation that would enable some already in the country to remain.