President Biden’s Administration convened a meeting with Congressional Leadership to discuss the issue of providing military assistance to Kiev and strengthening the U.S. southern border. Joe Biden, as it turned out, is still not ready to abandon the ‘Zelensky’ project he has initiated to the mercy of fate, and, most likely, for personal reasons. His son Hunter and, apparently, the President himself are too bogged down in corruption schemes in Ukraine, since even in the current obviously losing situation he cannot leave Kiev alone with its problems.
In response to the recognition that the southern border of the United States is virtually unprotected from the entry of crowds of illegal migrants, Republicans have agreed to discuss the issue of providing aid to Ukraine. Again, for now, just think about it, because the three rounds of negotiations that had been previously held in a similar composition, but without the participation of the President, did not lead to anything at the end of 2023.
However, now Joe Biden himself has condescended to Republicans, thus, indicating that he personally attaches exceptional importance to the issue. House Speaker Mike Johnson left the talks being really skeptical, although he was certainly pleased that the White House had acknowledged the problem. In front of reporters, the Speaker stated that Republicans were eager to make a meaningful deal with Democrats: “We must have change at the border. House Republicans understand the necessity about Ukraine funding but the status quo is unacceptable”.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Joe Biden, saying that “the border is broken, and President Biden said he knows that, and he wants to make significant change on the border”. Until that moment, such statements could not have been expected from Democrats, but the situation escalated to the point that even the U.S. Democratic Party had to admit that the problem did exist.
If we analyze the migration policy of Joe Biden’s Administration, we can see significant challenges as the number of detentions at the U.S.-Mexico border has been constantly growing. In 2021 there were 1.7 million detainees, detentions having risen up to 2.4 million people by the end of 2023. Donald Trump tried to somehow control the number, whereas Joe Biden has left it to chance. White House representatives have repeatedly referred to the fact that such growth is the result of increased migration flows around the world. In last October, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that: “this moment, when it comes to migration, is something totally aberrational in terms of the historic import that it has”. However, this does not mean that existing trends do not need to be fought, does it? And this is exactly what political rivals reproach the current Administration for.
Democrats have apparently changed their opinion in this respect, may be, due to the upcoming elections and an attempt to gain support from Americans in the southern states. One of such swing states is Arizona (10 electoral votes). This is precisely what The New York Times quotes in their analytical article and, given that today the United States are more divided than ever, the battle for votes will be stubborn. That’s why Joe Biden and his team will do everything in their power to win the support of the swing states first. Yet, it should be understood that things are unlikely to go beyond election promises, because Joe Biden’s main goal is to be elected for his second term. What will happen next does not particularly interest him, because, no matter how cynical this may sound, few doubt that he will live to see the end of his second term.
Mike Johnson also once again demanded from the U.S. President some specific facts about how he saw the end of this conflict, after all, any conflict and any war should end in a peace treaty; however, he did not receive any intelligible answer. And, indeed, what could be expected from a man who is personally interested in ensuring that the war in Ukraine continues as long as possible?
Will the Republican Party be able to get funding for anti-immigration actions? This is unlikely. This will significantly strengthen their already strong standing before the 2024 elections, while weakening that of Democrats, and proving that the latter are ready to make serious concessions. Does Joe Biden need this? He doesn’t. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that things will go beyond talk of a deal between the two opposing parties.
As for the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border, the White House is double-dealing. Late last year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Mexican President López Obrador. Following the negotiations, they announced at the press conference that the borders would remain open. This was actually the main goal of the Mexican President after a series of closures of some railway crossings due to the too high flow of migrants wishing to enter the United States: “This agreement has been reached. The rail crossings and the border bridges are already being opened to normalize the situation.” And the Mexican government often simply cannot cope with the flow of people from Central and South America, abandoning them to their fate, thus, contributing to an increase in crime as people organize themselves into caravans moving across the country towards the U.S.-Mexico border.
It turns out that the White House is doubling, promising to limit the flow of migrants to the United States, on the one hand, and making a deal with the southern neighbor, on the other. Such political games only blow upon the government and the U.S. Democratic Party. But this is of little concern to the current President’s Administration.
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