On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said that there are an “unsustainable number of people that are coming to the border” but “it’s really sort of illogical to connect border security with aid for Ukraine.” And “Ukraine is critical.”
King stated, “I am concerned, because it’s really sort of illogical to connect border security with aid for Ukraine. They’re two very separate issues. Ukraine is critical. To back away, to leave Ukraine to the tender embrace of Vladimir Putin would be a historic, and I mean historic mistake that would haunt this country for generations. It would undermine our credibility around the world with our allies. It would certainly destabilize Europe. It would open the door in Eastern Europe to Putin’s ambitions. It would be a huge mistake. Now, having said all of that, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and others are working on something on the border, and if it can be narrowed to the point where it does indeed increase border security, I think both sides might be able to come together on a principle like that. Both — people on both sides of the aisle believe in border security. This is not an immigration bill. This is talking about doing something about the unsustainable number of people that are coming to the border — mostly asylum seekers — and how to manage that, how to manage the flow that the cartels are essentially sending to us, I think is something that’s worth working on. I don’t like to see it tied to Ukraine aid, however. But if that’s what the Republicans are insisting upon, then we’ve got to make a good-faith effort to try to find something that everybody can live with.”
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