President Joe Biden on Saturday compared the plight of Ukrainian refugees fleeing war in their country to the migrants crossing the southern border of the United States.
The president commented on migrants and refugees during an expanded bilateral meeting with Polish president Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace in Warsaw.
Biden praised Poland for accepting millions of Ukrainian refugees after Russia started bombing their country.
“We understand that because we have, in our southern border, thousands of people a day — literally, not figuratively — trying to get into the United States,” Biden commented, signaling solidarity with Poland.
He promised the United States would accept Ukrainian war refugees as well.
“[W]e believe that we, the United States, should do our part relative to Ukraine as well, by opening our borders to another hundred thousand people,” he said.
Biden announced Thursday he would open the United States to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, allowing them to live in the United States legally and possibly receive work permits.
He repeatedly vowed to defend Poland’s border including “every inch” of NATO territory.
“We take as a sacred obligation Article 5 — a sacred obligation, Article 5. And you can count on that,” he said, and added, “For your freedom is ours.”
The president spoke prior to meeting Ukrainian refugees in front of the media, where he engaged with children who had fled their home country.
“You see all those little children? Just wanted to — just want a hug. They just want to say thanks,” he commented to the press after the meeting. “I mean, they’re — I mean, it’s — it just makes you so damn proud. And they’re wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.”