Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said there is congressional support for Ukraine funding — even among Republicans — but not with the raging “crisis” at the southern border.
Further, Manchin said President Joe Biden needs to call a national emergency and “close that border down.”
Manchin made the comments Friday in an interview on MSNBC.
“Democrats have to come to grips that we have to close that border down,” Manchin said. “We’ve got to have border security. And I would implore the President and his administration to call a national emergency on the border. We have a crisis. And this asylum basically should be put on hiatus for six months or so until we can get an immigration policy that works for our country.”
Manchin emphasized that the border crisis is inextricably linked to congressional support to continue funding Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“We’re going to support Ukraine. I can tell you that there’s overwhelming support within Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and I know the same feeling’s in the House,” Manchin said. “What happens though, they’re scared to come out against that because they’re seeing some pressure from the top leader, whether it be (Donald) Trump or whoever, that’s thinking, ‘Well, that’s not the right thing, we should be taking care of ourselves.’
“But you’ve got to recognize that. You just can’t say, ‘Well, we’re blind to that and this is everything,’” Manchin added.
“But Ukraine is pay me now or pay me later. … It’s the best investment that we can make to get world peace. If not, [Russian president Vladimir] Putin continues to move into the Baltics, into Poland, into NATO. We’re committed, at that time, to go help our ally.”
Manchin’s comments come a day after the Biden administration waived 26 federal laws to resume construction of a border wall in Starr County, Texas, with Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas citing an “acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers.”
But later Thursday, after blowback from progressives, the administration changed its tune, saying there is no new border wall policy and that the president had no choice but to spend monies that were “appropriated for the border wall.”
Regardless, Manchin said, “you have to build the wall.”
“There [are] areas we need the wall, and there [are] areas we need technology. But we need more agents down there,” Manchin said.
Further, in addition to resuming border wall construction, which started under former President Trump, Manchin stressed that Biden should take another page out of Trump’s book.
“But the administration, the President has to say enough is enough. And what Trump did, he basically declared a state of emergency,” Manchin said, adding that Biden should do it “in a heartbeat and shut it down tight.”