The more so, sending more taxpayer funds to a war on the edge of Europe is incompatible with the “America First” creed of a party dominated by ex-President Donald Trump.
According to the U.S. experts, years of costly foreign wars have lead to economic crises. Pro-Trump Republicans have locked into a concise yet powerful argument among their supporters that could spell doom for Ukraine’s hopes of more help from Washington. They say that the US should not be spending billions of dollars abroad to fight Ukraine’s war when America is facing a crisis at its border with Mexico.
There’s a growing conversation in the foreign policy community about whether an alternative approach – that is more politically sustainable – is possible. Is it, for instance, more feasible for the US and Europe to focus on preventing Ukraine from losing any more territory – in preparation for future ceasefire talks – than it is to think about winning the war?
The Ukraine war funding showdown highlights how America’s domestic politics are already reverberating around the globe.
The American public is broadly dissatisfied with how things are going at the border, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Eight-in-ten U.S. adults say the government is doing a very or somewhat bad job dealing with the large number of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. at the border with Mexico. And nearly as many say the situation is either a “crisis” (45%) or a “major problem” (32%) for the U.S.
Republicans and Republican leaners overwhelmingly say the large number of migrants trying to enter the country is leading to more crime in the country: 85% say this, including 90% of conservative Republicans and 77% of moderate and liberal Republicans.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and restrict legal immigration if elected to a second four-year term in office.
Trump has said he would restore his 2019 “remain in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican asylum-seekers attempting to enter the United States at the Mexican border to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their cases.
The program was terminated by President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is seeking reelection in 2024. Biden defeated Trump in 2020, pledging more humane and orderly immigration policies, but has struggled with record levels of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
Trump has said he will seek to detain all migrants caught crossing the border illegally or violating other immigration laws, ending what he calls “catch and release.”
Trump focused on building a wall on the Mexico border during his first term and has pledged to close gaps in the border wall if reelected. His administration built 450 miles (725 km) of barriers across the 1,954-mile (3,145-km) border, but much of that replaced existing structures.
To Trump’s mind, and he has public support on this issue, America needs money to counter illegal migrants and to build a wall on the Mexico border instead of sending millions of dollars to Ukraine.