The Trap of Single-Mindedness

The Case for Defending Both Our Allies and the Southern Border

America is lucky to find herself ever facing just one major challenge at a time. Today—like every day for many years now—illegal immigrants are surging across the southern border and into American communities. Meanwhile, aggression against America’s allies has drawn global attention. Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; Israel's war with Hamas continues apace. In response, the American government has already provided over $75 billion to support Ukraine,¹ and Congress is currently considering another defense package which would provide tens of billions of dollars to both Ukraine and Israel.² But some officeholders claim that this funding should be going to the border instead. Even Senator James Lankford, a Republican who supports additional military aid, admits that the two issues are linked: “We're not going to try to secure other countries and not secure ours.”³

Deciding whether the border must take precedence over protecting America's allies requires a clear view of the costs of illegal immigration. Under President Biden, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported over 6.2 million illegal crossings from over 160 countries as of October 2023. Fiscal year 2023 alone saw a record 2.4 million encounters, 27,000 pounds of fentanyl confiscated (a 464% increase from 2020), and 169 people on the terrorist watch list stopped from entering the U.S.⁴ American communities big and small are buckling under the weight of this illegal mass migration. Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas, (combined population 63,433) have received a total of 347,572 illegal migrants as of November 2023.⁵ Eagle Pass’ single hospital struggles to meet medical needs with its 101 hospital beds. New York City, with a population of 8.3 million, had received 118,000 migrants as of spring 2023. Mayor Eric Adams said the migrant influx “will destroy” the city and cost New Yorkers $12 billion by 2025.⁶ If one city faces a cost of $12 billion over half a decade, one can only imagine the net national cost of illegal migration over the next twenty years.

But while illegal immigration must be controlled, these foreign wars simply aren't that expensive. It is true that this is the first time since World War II that a European country (Ukraine) is the top recipient of U.S. aid.⁷ When one compares the cost of support for Ukraine to the size of the U.S. economy, however, the expenditure seems much less notable. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, support for Ukraine represented 0.32% of U.S. GDP in 2022.⁸ In comparison, mandatory spending (largely entitlements and interest on the national debt) represented 17.6% of GDP in 2023.⁹ If one was looking for areas in the federal budget to reduce spending, entitlement spending would almost necessarily be the place to start. The proposed foreign aid for our friends’ defense represents a manageable and, frankly, minor fraction of our spending power.

Not only is foreign aid not the cause of our current budgetary woes, but border security need not be either. Consider that President Trump had earmarked $15 billion to build 738 miles of wall, though he only spent $10 billion to build around 450 miles of wall by October 2020.¹⁰ In response to record illegal immigration under President Biden, Congress should authorize a similar amount to complete and expand Trump’s planned construction. Certain policy changes could also be effective without incurring almost any additional cost. Trump-era policies like “Remain in Mexico,” which required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed, ought to be reinstated, and the eligibility requirements for asylum ought to be made more stringent. These changes, even when paired with additional funding for Customs and Border Patrol and our immigration courts, would likely be even cheaper than our foreign aid outlays.

There should be no tension between helping America’s friends defend themselves and securing the U.S. southern border because America can afford both. Our allies need military aid to repel deadly aggression. America needs an effective physical barrier to end illegal migration. The size of U.S. spending shows that failures to accomplish either task reveal not insufficient finances but insufficient leadership. Both Ukraine and Israel, like all nations, have the right to defend themselves against aggression. It is reasonable that their allies would support their defense, especially when contributions are clearly well within America’s means. Just as we ought to support our allies’ efforts to protect their borders, Americans are under no obligation to accept a state of lawlessness on our own. When millions of unknown persons and countless tons of deadly drugs openly flow into the country, U.S. resources are strained and Americans’ security and quality of life are diminished. Americans should not allow our leaders to use either problem as a justification for not solving the other.

BLAISE PASCAL

A version of this article originally appeared in Home Front, the February 2024 print issue of the Salient.

1. Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, “How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine? Here Are Six Charts,” Council on Foreign Relations, updated Dec. 8, 2023.

2. Siobhan Hughes and Lindsay Wise, “Senate Passes $95.3 Billion Ukraine, Israel Aid Package,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 13, 2023.

3. Sahil Kapur and Frank Thorp V, “Republicans Threaten to Reject Ukraine Aid Unless Democrats Agree to Tighten U.S. Immigration Laws,” NBC News, Nov. 7, 2023.

4. “FY23 Had the Most Illegal Border Crossings in History as Joe Biden’s Border Crisis Rages On,” House Republicans, Oct. 23, 2023.

5. Nolan Rappaport, “The Massive Burden of Biden’s Undocumented Immigrants,” The Hill, Dec. 1, 2023.

6. Muzaffar Chishti et al, “New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals,” Migration Policy Institute, Sep. 27, 2023.

7. Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, “How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine? Here Are Six Charts,” Council on Foreign Relations, updated Dec. 8, 2023.

8. Ibid.

9. Romina Boccia and Dominik Lett, “Fast Facts about Mandatory Spending,” Cato Institute, June 7, 2023.

10. Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo, “Records Show Trump’s Border Wall Is Costing Taxpayers Billions More than Initial Contracts,” The Texas Tribune, Oct. 27, 2020.