WASHINGTON, Feb 5, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - US senators on Sunday released the text

of a much-anticipated deal that would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine
and Israel while tightening US border laws -- although its prospects for
becoming law are unclear.

The so-called national security supplemental provides for $118.3 billion in
total funding, including $60 billion to support war-torn Ukraine, matching
the White House's request, and $14.1 billion in security assistance to
Israel, according to a summary released by Senate Appropriations Committee
chair Patty Murray.

The legislation also includes $20.2 billion for US border security and a
myriad of immigration policy changes agreed to by Democratic and Republican
negotiators.

It is not clear that the 370-page bill has the 60 backers it will need to
clear the first procedural vote in the 100-seat, Democratic-controlled
Senate, expected on Wednesday at the latest.

Senators have been negotiating for months on a deal to combat illegal
immigration, with Republicans insisting on bolstered border security in
return for approving President Joe Biden's funding request for Kyiv.

Release of the text was met with swift approval from the White House, which
highlighted the decades-long pursuit to reform the country's "broken"
immigration system.

"Now we've reached an agreement on a bipartisan national security deal that
includes the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades. I
strongly support it," Biden said in a statement.

He also urged Republicans -- who control the House of Representatives and
have been pressured by White House hopeful Donald Trump to oppose the deal --
to back the bipartisan package.

"If you believe, as I do, that we must secure the border now, doing nothing
is not an option," he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously declared the package "dead on
arrival," although he appeared to change tack when he told Fox Business last
Friday that he's "not prejudging anything."

- 'Detain and deport' -

Biden ran on restoring "humanity" to immigration -- ending controversial
Trump-era policies that led to families being separated at the US-Mexico
border.

But Republicans dismiss his term as a failure, pointing to statistics showing
border agents picking up illegal migrants a record 302,000 times in December.

For months, polling has shown Americans see the migrant crisis among their
top concerns -- and mostly blame Democrats for the surge.

Much of the major immigration reform that ended up in the bill was
anticipated ahead of its release and were described by both sides as
constituting the strictest border policy changes in decades.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close our open border and give
future administrations the effective tools they need to stop the border chaos
and protect our nation," Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, the lead
Republican negotiator, said in a statement.

He said the bill would put "a huge number of new enforcement tools in the
hands of a future administration" and push the Biden administration to
"finally stop the illegal flow" of migrants through border wall construction
and stronger technology.

The measure calls for tougher curbs in the system for processing asylum
requests and for a clampdown when crossings exceed 5,000 people a week.

Lankford said it changes US policy from "catch and release," which allows
undocumented migrants to remain at liberty as they await court appearances,
to "detain and deport."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the legislation "a monumental
step" towards strengthening America's national security abroad and along our
borders."

But he cautioned Republicans against the knee-jerk reaction of trying to sink
the bill simply because Trump, the party's likely 2024 presidential nominee,
opposes it.

"Senators must shut out the noise from those who want this agreement to fail
for their own political agendas," Schumer said.