WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is engaged in a heated battle Thursday over immigration policy as chairman Lindsey Graham threatens to upend the rules to advance a detention bill that Democrats oppose.

It's one last battle, led by a top ally of President Donald Trump, before senators break for a long August recess and the start of 2020 campaigning.

Graham gaveled open the hearing saying he wasn't going to wait any longer. He says he failed to reach a compromise with Democrats over detention policies for children at the border.

The South Carolina Republican, who faces his own reelection race alongside Trump next year, says senators have a "right to vote" on his plan.

Democrats are voting against procedural motions. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island called it an "illegitimate process."