A bipartisan plan to try and fix America’s immigration system was shot down by Senate Republicans Wednesday.

What You Need To Know

  • A bipartisan plan to try and fix America’s immigration system was shot down by Senate Republicans Wednesday

  • Tillis and all but four other Senate Republicans shot down the immigration overhaul

  • Tillis had been a supporter of the bipartisan negotiations

One of those members was North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

The vote was a surprise because he had been a vocal supporter of the bipartisan Senate negotiations.

In January on the floor of the Senate he said, “there are a million different reasons why we need to get this border compromise done and … I hope this Congress sets aside politics.”

But flash forward to Wednesday of this week and Tillis voted down the bill.

Tillis and all but four other Senate Republicans rejected what that would have been the first major overhaul of the immigration system in decades.

“It surprised me … given what he had said before,” Western Carolina University politics Professor Chris Cooper said.

Republican opposition to the compromise quickly began building about two weeks ago after former President Donald Trump urged lawmakers to reject it.

Tillis’ office didn’t return a request for an interview, but in a statement this week about the vote he said, “It would be a mistake to send this bill to the house without the support of a majority of Republican senators, and if it didn’t have a majority, I would not support a futile procedural exercise. After reviewing the bill text, there are provisions that are highly problematic … it is hard to trust that the Biden administration would even implement this bill in good faith.”

Tillis’ evolution on the legislation mirrored that of many other Republican senators. It meant a compromise on immigration reform that many thought had a good chance of passing the Senate did not even make it out of the chamber.

Not only did Tillis once support the negotiations to reach a compromise on border security, he also has voted for many of the noteworthy bipartisan bills that Congress has passed in recent years.

“I don’t think that’s going to change in the aggregate. He’s still going to be certainly viewed as someone who can work across the aisle,” Cooper said. “But he’s certainly not a gimme for the Democratic Party on these kinds of bipartisan bills.”

Tillis’ willingness to support bipartisanship could help if he decides to run for re-election in the swing state of North Carolina in 2026.

“He’s walking a tight rope everyday ... he’s somebody who has taken surprising stances sometimes, never really against his party, but he’s somebody who’s been more open to bipartisanship,” Cooper said.

Sen. Ted Budd also voted against the immigration plan.