House passes $4.5 billion emergency border aid package
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The House passed a $4.5 billion bill Tuesday night to aid migrants, with a vote of 230-195.
Last week, lawyers reported on the "deplorable" conditions at a Border Patrol facility in Texas housing migrant kids, and before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) likened the situation to "child abuse," adding that supporting the bill was "a vote against the cruel attitude toward children of this administration."
Democrats came into the vote divided on whether to support the bill, worried that they would actually be helping President Trump and his aggressive immigration policies; Pelosi reassured them this would only provide humanitarian aid, Politico reports. Before the vote, several changes were made to the bill, lawmakers and aides told Politico, including making it so no child can be in a shelter for more than 90 days, ensuring that private detention centers meet certain standards within six months, and providing migrants translation services.
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The Senate is expected to vote on its own bill this week, but it's unclear if Trump will sign anything that doesn't include changes to asylum law.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
