Sen. Sinema explains Jan. 6 commission vote absence; touts border bill in Tucson

While in Tucson to tout her immigration bill Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said she did not vote on the creation of a commission to delve into the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol because of a “personal family matter.”

Sinema did not provide any further explanation about her absence on Friday’s commission vote, which failed, as she answered questions from reporters after a tour of immigration facilities in Tucson with Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas.

The Arizona Democrat said she continues to support the filibuster. Rather than abolish the filibuster, the better way to fix the Senate would be to “change your behavior” and work in a bipartisan way, Sinema said.

She and Cornyn said they were in Tucson to learn about the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and promote the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act they introduced in April. They toured a recently opened Border Patrol facility to house unaccompanied migrant children, spoke with Customs and Border Protection officials, and visited the Casa Alitas shelter where migrant families stay for a few days after they are released by the Border Patrol.

Sinema said she was “pleased” to see the work that officials at the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector had put into the tent-like facility that opened recently in Tucson, calling it a “big difference” from how migrant children were treated in the past.

Rather than sleep on the floor and “touching cold concrete,” children sleep on mats with warm blankets, and agents can dim the lights at night, she said.

The Border Patrol’s Tucson and Yuma sectors have both seen spikes in border encounters in recent months.

Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector saw the number of unaccompanied children triple in recent months to about 2,300 in March, before dropping somewhat to about 1,900 in April.

The vast majority of migrants encountered in the Tucson Sector in April were adults from Mexico and Guatemala traveling without children. The Yuma Sector is seeing far more families than the Tucson Sector. The most common nationalities of migrants in the Yuma Sector in April were Cuban, Brazilian and Ecuadorian.

Sinema applauded the “life-saving” work done at Casa Alitas. She and Cornyn entered a statement of thanks to the Casa Alitas staff into the Congressional Record.

The bill introduced by Sinema and Cornyn is practical and “most importantly, implementable,” Sinema said Tuesday.

The bill would set up regional processing centers where Department of Homeland Security officials could provide legal orientation to migrants, conduct criminal history checks, issue immigration documents, and coordinate with non-governmental organizations, says a fact-sheet from Sinema’s office.

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The bill also would set up a pilot program to speed up the processing of immigration cases and prioritize cases “during irregular migration influx events,” among other provisions.

Cornyn said many people are “fed up with politics” and believe “nobody’s interested in solving problems.” He said Sinema is a “serious legislator,” and their bill is the only bipartisan, bicameral bill dealing with the current border crisis.

The bill is “modest” and is “not going to solve all the problems in the world,” Cornyn said. “But it’s a start.”

Cornyn said he was concerned about Border Patrol agents leaving their regular duties to care for children, as well as “overwhelmed” government facilities. Officials need to address factors such as the “perception that the border’s open,” he said.

Their bill speeds up the adjudication of asylum claims and, where appropriate, should deliver the consequences that will deter other migrants, Cornyn said.

Teresa Cavendish, director of operations for Catholic Community Services, which runs Casa Alitas, said later that when she speaks to DHS officials and members of Congress, “they completely understand and have sympathy and empathy for what we’re sharing with them.”

But the “scale of this massive government effort” can make it hard to “effect change,” she said.

“They’re trying to turn a very large ship, but there are more people who are trying to turn that ship, so we’re hopeful that we’re going to see some real change.”

Sinema and Cornyn are headed to McAllen, a border town in Texas that has seen more migrants in recent months than any other area of the border, on Wednesday.