The Democrats in Congress obviously aren’t serious about stopping the crisis at the U.S. southern border, judging by the bill that they negotiated to address the crisis.  That said, the Republicans who agreed to this bill might as well change their party affiliation.

“I have no doubt that the Senate can, once again, rise to the occasion and lead America forward,” wrote Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on X (Twitter).

Not only does it show where their loyalties lie (and it’s not with the United States), but it will anger their voters, making it less likely they will be re-elected this fall.

The U.S. Senate published the text of the proposed Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024.  The $118-billion bill provides aid to Ukraine ($48 billion) and Israel ($16 billion), as well as supposedly addressing the border crisis.

U.S. border security, which has a more immediate part to play in national security than foreign wars, gets short shrift in this bill.  Much of the money goes to hiring immigration judges to expedite asylum processing and deportation proceedings.  It also contains funding for law enforcement officers to detain and remove illegal aliens in the United States.

“The border security bill will put a huge number of new enforcement tools in the hands of a future administration and push the current Administration to finally stop the illegal flow.  The bill provides funding to build the wall, increase technology at the border, and add more detention beds, more agents, and more deportation flights,” Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Sadly, it doesn’t look as though it will do that.  It does look like a way to allow 5,000 illegals a day into the country and give them work visas.  The more people read through the bill, the more problems they find.

“This Joe Biden/Chuck Schumer Open Border Bill is an absolute non-starter and will further incentivize thousands of illegals to pour in across our borders daily,” Rep. Elise Stefanik tweeted.

Although the Democrats negotiated the bill only to free up funds for Ukraine, they obviously threw in a lot of bloat, which politicians just can’t seem to avoid.  They also added things that would give the federal government more control over what happens at the border, even though they won’t do anything in the end.  We’ve been down that road before.

Senate Appropriations Committee chair Patty Murray said that the Democrats negotiated in good faith, and now it is time to act — not to protect our border, though.

“Ukraine’s fate and so much more hangs in the balance — it’s time for Congress to act,” she wrote. 

The problem is that this bill isn’t needed if only the federal government would actually protect the border and send the illegals back to their home countries.  If Customs and Border Patrol were allowed to do what Texas is doing, the illegals would start to get the message and the inflow of illegals would stop.

Michael A. Letts is the CEO and founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.

Image: woodleywonderworks via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.