As Israel Crushes Hamas, Aid Ukraine and Secure American Borders

A wider Middle Eastern war with Iran will involve U.S. forces. The administration and Congress must make it clear to Iran it supports Israel's right to exist with security, without threat of atrocity and genocide.

Sending that message means standing aside as Israel destroys Hamas.

Addressing the Ukraine and U.S. border invasions, however, should be separate issues. Republicans have watched the border deteriorate. The Republicans argue, sensibly, we need to defend our borders as well as Ukraine's.

So they tied funding Ukraine to securing U.S. domestic borders -- meaning they want the Biden administration to enforce the laws on the books. However, progressive Democrats, influential in the Biden administration, want to keep the illegals coming.

The next census is one reason. Blue states have lost people. Millions of illegals in blue states protect congressional districts. Self-serving politics is bad enough, but I think the hard leftists ultimately seek to destroy American social and political cohesion. They argue their agenda promotes social justice of some type, hence a transformation invasion assuring leftist political domination. What it does is make it easier for authoritarians like China and Russia to dominate the world.

The Republicans have a strong strategic case for border security and election integrity. The unsecured border isn't "the immigration problem" of the past. The unsecured border deleteriously affects multiple issues. The massive illegal alien wave the Biden administration encouraged undermines economic growth, distorts job creation and overwhelms state and local social welfare and anti-poverty "safety nets."

There are health and public safety dimensions. Limiting disease transmission -- human and animal diseases and plant pests -- is an obvious border security mission, but millions of illegal aliens have avoided health checks. The Biden administration shrugs.

Drug cartels use the illegal alien invasion to smuggle people and narcotics with ease. Failing to enforce border law is intimately tied to the "fentanyl drug epidemic" and a factor in the increase in violent crime.

Failing to enforce laws breeds disrespect and ultimately disdain for law and order.

Russia is gearing up for a summer offensive. Ukraine needs aid right now. There are several proposals that have bipartisan congressional support. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) recently suggested using an estimated $8 billion in seized Russian assets to fund more Ukraine aid. Don't want any longer, use it.

Kurt Volker, former State Department Special Representative for Ukraine, favors a new Ukraine lend-lease law. Congress passed one in May 2022, but lend-lease was never used -- arms were delivered free of charge. The law expired in 2023. Volker told an RBC-Ukraine reporter that a new lend-lease would make "hundreds of billions available to Ukraine to borrow at Ukraine's discretion." So do it.

As for the border? Efforts by Texas' state government demonstrates all Biden has to do is restore Trump administration border policy.

Or we wait for a national election to repudiate Biden's neglect and malfeasance.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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