President Biden is facing pushback from liberal lawmakers in Congress and immigrant rights activists following new developments in the Senate’s Ukraine aid–border security negotiations. The White House finally began sending staff to the Capitol Hill negotiations on Tuesday — just 48 hours before Congress is due to recess for the remainder of the year. 

“Deplorable. Irresponsible. Unacceptable.” Those are the words used by the freshman lawmaker and daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, to describe the plans developing in the upper chamber. 

She was responding to a report by CBS News that the Biden administration Tuesday night floated the idea that the White House would bring back the pandemic-era border policy known as Title 42, which allowed for migrants to be swiftly expelled without having their asylum claims heard. In exchange for this and other border and asylum policy changes, congressional Republicans would advance the Ukraine aid package Mr. Biden has requested. 

“The fact that we are considering exchanging the lives of asylum seekers for Ukrainian lives is draconian and immoral,” Ms. Ramirez said. “We CAN choose policies that recognize our interconnectedness. Let’s prove it by showing courage and rejecting this cruel exchange.”

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus came out forcefully against the Ukraine–border negotiations earlier this week. “President Biden knows that is not what Democrats stand for,” said the caucus leadership. “During his 2020 campaign, he pledged to restore our nation’s ‘moral standing in the world and our historic role as a haven for refugees and asylum seekers.’ It is unconscionable that the President would consider going back on his word to enact what amounts to a ban on asylum.”

On Wednesday, the Hispanic Caucus held a press conference on Capitol Hill to say they would not support the deal that is now taking shape. Senator Menendez called Mr. Biden’s current proposal a “dream” for anti-immigrant lawmakers. 

Mr. Menendez went further, saying Mr. Biden’s deal is shaping up to be a “Trumpian” proposal that will “read like a bucket list of Stephen Miller’s wildest fantasies.” Mr. Miller was one of the Trump administration’s most hawkish immigration opponents and would likely play a similar role should President Trump win next year’s election.

“The president is terribly mistaken,” Mr. Menendez said. 

The policy director for the liberal American Immigration Council, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, said on X on Wednesday that the bill that is being developed — which is likely to include some kind of Title 42 reinstatement, a large pause on asylum claims processing, and expanded deportations — is unacceptable. 

“Everything I’ve heard over the last 24 hours supports the reports that the White House has agreed in principle to what could be the most anti-immigrant and anti-asylum legislation in almost 30 years,” he said. “This is a moment of crisis for immigrant rights. The time to act is now.”

One of the Republican negotiators on the Senate border deal, Senator Tillis, said the fact that progressives are lining up against the deal is a good sign. “We’ve seen now what the White House has sent over,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I think that, to the extent that I’ve heard some Democrats express concern, I think that’s progress. … This is something to build on. I for one think we should stick around to get it solved.”