Biden Gives $250 Million to Ukraine as Republican Block Additional Funding

On Wednesday, the Biden administration unveiled a $250 million Ukraine military aid package, the last of its kind until Biden agrees to safeguard the country’s southern border.

According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the package includes up to $250 million in armaments and equipment for Ukraine under previously directed drawdowns.

Air defense munitions, various air defense system components, more ammo for high mobility artillery rocket systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, anti-armor munitions, and over 15 million rounds of ammunition are among the capabilities included in today’s package.

The Biden administration has requested a supplemental package from Congress that includes more than $60 billion in help for Ukraine.

However, the legislation is currently blocked in the Senate as Biden administration negotiators seek a compromise on border security and immigration policy, both of which are crucial Republican demands in any deal.

Republicans, according to Senator James Lankford, are tired of Aide flying to Ukraine while the US southern border remains open, enabling thousands of illegal migrants to enter the country every day.

The entire Republican minority in the upper house voted against the motion, citing a lack of government action on the estimated 10,000 migrants who cross from Mexico into the United States every day.

“Everyone has been very clear in saying that we are standing firm.” “Now is the time,” said Senator James Lankford, the main Republican negotiator on immigration and border problems.

“We’re completely out of control at the southern border, and it’s time to resolve this.”

American people deserve better

Biden has pleaded with Republicans over the plan, warning that a Russian triumph over Ukraine would allow Moscow to attack NATO countries and bring US forces into a war. A claim that many Republicans believe is false.

Even as the White House cautioned this week that monies intended for delivering aid to Ukraine will run out by the end of the year, border security with Mexico has emerged as a key stumbling block to sustained support for Ukraine.

House and Senate Republicans are supporting the re-construction of former President Donald Trump’s signature policy, the border wall, while declaring a large number of migrants ineligible for asylum and reviving a contentious policy in which asylum seekers are told to remain in Mexico while their immigration case is heard.

President Biden stated that he was willing to make “significant” border sacrifices, but that Republicans would not get all they desired. He didn’t go into specifics.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who voted against aid to Kyiv before taking office, has stated unequivocally that he will not agree to send any additional money without “transformative” changes to border policy.

“The American people deserve nothing less,” stated Johnson in a statement.

The Louisiana Republican has also stated that any aid to Israel must be offset by expenditure cuts, a position that Democrats, the White House, and the majority of Senate Republicans oppose.

Despite the debate over the new financial package, the US announced $175 million in help for Kyiv from a decreasing pool of previously sanctioned funds.

Biden administration wants open borders

Meanwhile, the Biden administration, according to the Heritage Foundation, does not want to simply maintain the US-Mexico border open. It wants our Latin American neighbors’ borders to remain open as well.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told Aljazera in an interview earlier this year that he urged Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for assistance in blocking Guatemala’s border with El Salvador and Honduras to help stop illicit migration north.

But, according to Giammattei, Mayorkas and Blinken declined his offer.

According to Guatemalan officials, Mayorkas and Blinken declined Giammattei’s offer since DHS lacked the resources needed to aid Guatemala in this attempt.

However, it is no secret that the Biden administration despises Giammattei, a conservative who is pro-life, pro-Taiwan, and pro-Israel, and had no intention of assisting him during a heated contest to pick his successor this summer.

Biden Administration praises new socialist leader

President Joe Biden, on the other hand, praised socialist president-elect Bernardo Arevalo, who will take office in January.

Giammattei continues to warn the Biden administration about the dangers of open borders, saying, “What the United States has is a process of invasion.”

According to a Guatemalan intelligence assessment, between January 1, 2022 and August 31, 2023, 20,522 people from nine “nationalities of interest” for terrorism and drug trafficking—Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen—arrived in Guatemala. “There will be terrorists,” said Giammattei.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified that “war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level.” He went on to say that “we also cannot—and do not—discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil.”

We have since received numerous reports of terrorism-related arrests in the United States. Sohaib Abuayyash, a Palestinian man in the United States on an expired visa with a pending asylum application, was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person after having direct contact with others who “shared a radical mindset” and were training with weapons to “possibly commit an attack.”

For nearly three years, the Biden administration has pushed tirelessly to keep America’s borders open. We now know that it also wants the borders of our southern neighbors to be open.

Congress should reject all money for the administration’s open-border operations, including the Safe Mobility Offices and services south of our border.

Instead, funding should be directed to ICE law enforcement agents in order to discover and detain potential terrorists within the United States. Congress should also evaluate the Giammattei idea and consider similar measures with interested Latin American partners.