WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, teamed up with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Thursday in a bipartisan push for a bill addressing the migration surge at the border.

The bill would establish four new regional processing centers in high-traffic areas in order to reduce wait times and eliminate backlogs in facilities, to help asylum-seekers get rulings more quickly and efficiently. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, announced they are introducing a partner bill in the House.

“Senator Sinema and I both represent border states,” Cornyn said on a press call announcing the bill. “And we’ve seen firsthand the challenges that this crisis has produced. More importantly, we’ve had a chance to visit with people on the border in our states who can tell us about the impact this has had on our local communities, and on their capacity to deal with this flood of humanity coming across the border.”

The bill would create pilot programs to ensure fairer and more efficient asylum decisions, prioritize scheduling immigration court cases during surges, and provide legal and translation services and protections for unaccompanied children placed with sponsors. It would increase staffing among immigration judges, asylum officers, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations staff and litigation teams, and Border patrol officers and processing coordinators.

The bill would also increase Congressional reporting and oversight on immigration, Cuellar said in a statement.

“As the Vice Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations, I am committed to supporting the brave men and women who protect our borders, the border communities who provide humanitarian relief, and the children and families determined to migrate to our country,” Cuellar said.

The lawmakers are introducing the legislation as President Joe Biden comes under increasing pressure to address the surge of migrants at the border.

The number of migrant encounters went up 71% since February, USA Today reported.

“We know that this crisis at the border is not a Democratic or Republican problem,” Sinema said. “And as Senator Cornyn and I both know firsthand, it’s not a new problem. It’s an American problem. And it’s one that we’ve been dealing with in our border states for decades.”

Cuellar and Gonzales called the legislation “commonsense” in statements.