Exclusive: Republican candidates running in border states are warning Republican lawmakers negotiating funding deals not to concede to Democratic demands for more aid to Ukraine as long as the migrant crisis continues.
Fox News Digital speaks to multiple Republican candidates and one Democratic candidate about ongoing negotiations and claims that concerns about Ukraine at war with Russia are a threat to U.S. national security We asked whether this could be prioritized over a worsening border crisis.
Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake told Fox: “If elected officials can't focus on securing the border and stopping people from coming into the country, then voting to He should be removed from his seat.”
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Russian soldiers patrol the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was bombed on March 16 last year, on April 12, 2022 in Mariupol, Ukraine. (Getty Images/Alexander Nemenov/AFP)
“Congressmen who are using Ukrainian funds to secure our borders are betraying the trust of the American people. “It will be used to deter invasions from coming in,” she added.
Lake was echoed by former Republican Texas congresswoman Mayra Flores, who was the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress and is currently running to win back the border district seat she lost in the 2022 midterm elections. . Flores should not continue sending money to Ukraine as long as the U.S. continues to fight the border crisis, she said.
“As the wife of a Border Patrol agent who lives in the Rio Grande Valley, I can say unequivocally that there is no greater threat to the security of our country than the thousands of unidentified illegal immigrants who enter our country every day,” she said. Ta. .
New Mexico Senate candidate Ben Luna also took a tough stance, arguing that Republicans in Congress need to step up and arrest the decline the U.S. is facing on the border.
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“We really need to fix America before we start trying to help others. This is like a wounded man trying to operate on someone else. It makes no sense,” he told Fox. Ta.
Republican Arizona State Senate candidate Kari Lake, Republican New Mexico State Senate candidate Ben Luna, and former Republican Texas State Representative Myra Flores. (Getty Images/Ben Luna/Reuters)
”[Republicans] We need to buckle up and play hardball… We haven't had much leadership, and many of us know that difficult times produce strong people and weak people produce difficult times. I am. And we're experiencing that right now,” he said.
Luna said Americans are now dealing with the consequences of 70 to 100 years of bad policy decisions, and even Democrats in their home states are being forced to take political action at a time of desperate need to help people here. He added that families are starting to wake up to the reality that they are sending money to other countries.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is up for re-election this year, is one of the Senate's strongest supporters of achieving Republican goals in addressing the border crisis.He introduced his Senate version HR2officially known as the Secure Borders Act, serves as the standard for Republican border positions in funding negotiations.
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“I think this is actually the best and most comprehensive approach to securing the border,” he said in a recent interview. “And the White House's opposition is that they don't want to secure the border for anyone else, which is sad.” “It comes down to facts.”
Texas Sen. Rolando Gutierrez, one of Cruz's Democratic challengers, offered a different take on the funding battle, saying the Ukraine war is impacting people around the world and that there is no need to resolve the border crisis. The plan calls for gun reform to combat cartel violence.
In this Thursday, June 10, 2021 file photo, two immigrant families from Brazil arrive in the United States through a gap in the border wall after crossing from Mexico to Yuma, Arizona, to seek asylum. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia, File)
“The war in Ukraine is about defending democracy, and when democracy is challenged anywhere in the world, it affects us all,” he told Fox. “Real border security solutions include stopping the firearms industry from arms cartels. Only comprehensive gun safety reform can solve that.”
Gutierrez said policies such as red flag laws, age limits on purchase and bans on “assault” weapons would accomplish that.
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“We must resolve the chaos caused by Republican extremists on our southern border, but make no mistake, we must not do so at the expense of defending our democracy. It’s time to focus.’ These are the voices of our border community leaders,” he added.
Fox reached out to a number of other Democratic candidates running in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to ask what they wanted as part of a funding deal, but no one responded. Ta.
Leading senators returned to the Capitol earlier this week from Christmas break to try to reach an agreement on a border security bill that they failed to reach last month.
You can see the U.S. Capitol building illuminated by the morning sun. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
Chief Senate negotiators James Lankford (R-Okla.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced the Negotiations have begun with Secretary of State Alejandro Mayorkas and other Biden administration officials. I was scheduled to go on holiday.
On the other hand, 60 House RepublicanLawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), ended their vacation early on Wednesday and visited Eagle Pass, Texas, on the southern border. They have made clear that even if a deal passes in the Senate, it will not receive support from the Republican-controlled House unless it includes elements of HR2.
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Republicans conditioned increased aid to Ukraine on implementing strict border security measures before adjourning. But demands for the partnership, which includes aid to Israel and Taiwan along with Ukraine, came shortly after President Biden urged its passage in October.
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FOX News' Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
