Joe Biden asked the US Congress for a package of more than $ 105 billion to help Israel and Ukraine, solve the migration crisis. and anti-China, but may be lost due to chaos in the House of Representatives.
The petition came a day after the US president linked an attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, saying both aimed to “destroy” the democracies.
His goal is to try to convince the American people that the United States must remain “a light” in the world and that walking away from Ukraine and turning away from Israel “is not worth it.”
The Democratic president spoke Thursday from the Oval Office that a huge amount ($61.4 billion in aid to Ukraine, including $30 billion in weapons, and $14 billion for Israel, including $10.6 billion in weapons) will protect American interests for generations to come.
But it fell at a bad time because Congress could not approve the minimum bill. After all, the Republicans could not agree to elect a president in the House of Representatives, where they have a majority after a group in favor of former president Donald Trump disagreed with the former.
Republicans are still reluctant to increase military aid to Ukraine, but they have supported Israel and demanded more strength on immigration issues and against China for months.
This explains why Biden’s mega-aid package combines completely different crises and a call for national unity.
Biden reached out to Republicans by asking for $13.6 billion to strengthen the Mexican border, manage irregular migration, and combat the trafficking of fentanyl, which is mainly carried out, according to Washington, by Mexican drug cartels.
Democrats also have to deal with Mexico.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador insisted that the causes of migration would be addressed with more investment in Central America, instead of announcing “public measures” such as the expansion of the border wall, which according to Biden was forced he is to enforce by legal imposition. .
The White House package also includes $7 billion to counter China and strengthen allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and more than $9 billion for humanitarian aid for Gaza, Ukraine, and Israel.
– “Political games” –
“Republicans in Congress must stop playing political games with border security” and “provide resources,” reads the document sent to Congress.
Biden admitted that he has made “progress” in his policy on “legal routes” for migrants to enter the country, such as humanitarian permits for family reunification, the mobile phone application (CBP One), and the immigration management offices in Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala, and soon in Ecuador.
But “it needs more funding.”
The money will go toward sending 1,300 additional border patrol agents to work with the 20,200 already funded in the fiscal year 2024 budget, state-of-the-art technology to detect fentanyl at ports of entry, 1,000 more police officers, and another 1,600 security agents.
The “expedited removal” of migrants who do not meet the requirements to stay “will not be possible if asylum officers” cannot conduct “credible fear interviews,” in which they will assess whether there is a possibility of persecution or torture. man. returned to his country, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recalled this Friday in a statement.
Biden also wants to increase immigration judges to speed up the processing of cases, increase subsidies for the provision of food and shelter for migrants, and expand “legal pathways.”
– “Containment, diplomacy” –
Republicans have complained for months that Biden, who is up for re-election in the 2024 presidential election, has not done enough to stop the influx of migrants, whose numbers are increasing despite repatriations, including Venezuelans.
“President Biden continues to implement an immigration strategy focused on law enforcement, deterrence, and diplomacy,” DHS responded.
