Ukraine and Israel Face True Invasions, the U.S. Border Does Not

by Chris Jennewein

As Congress struggles over President Biden’s efforts to aid embattled Ukraine and Israel, the increasingly populist and isolationist Republican Party trivializes the concept of an invasion.

Texas Rep. Randy Weber, a member of the ultra-right-wing Freedom Caucus, explains that aid must wait until another supposed invasion, closer to home, is halted.

“The Washington Swamp continues to be more concerned with stopping the Russian invasion of Ukraine than stopping the invasion of America at the southern border,” he said

Invasion is the correct description for what happened in Ukraine and Israel. Russia sought to conquer Ukraine with an invading Army, while Hamas tried to undermine Israel with a brutal and sadistic surprise attack on civilians.

If Ukraine loses, many of its citizens will be executed or sent to “re-education” camps. The Ukrainian language and church will be stamped out, as Russia attempted over a century ago. The invasion is truly existential for Ukraine. And Vladimir Putin might not stop there.

If Israel fails to eliminate Hamas, it will face a continued threat from the south, as well as an emboldened Hezbollah and Iran. The Hamas rallying cry of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call to eliminate Israel and the Jews who live there. So Hamas’ invasion was also existential.

But the migrant surge on the U.S. border is in no way equivalent.

Migrants are not arriving with tanks and RPGs. They don’t want to kill Americans and impose a new way of life. Instead, they’re seeking safety and a better life. In fact, they want to become Americans.

An in-depth article in Times of San Diego on Sunday interviewed some of the supposed invaders at the border.

“It’s everybody’s dream to come to America,” said Fraidoon Noori, 24, a refugee from Afghanistan, who was camping outside in Jacumba with other migrants.

Kevin Mendoza, 23, made it to America from Ecuador, and said he would gladly make the long, dangerous journey again because of the promise of safety and work in America.

The surge at the border isn’t an invasion — it’s an opportunity. With 8.7 million unfilled jobs as of the end of October, and Baby Boomers retiring in droves, America clearly need workers.

People who leave their family and homeland for a long and possibly dangerous journey are a special breed. They have guts and determination. They’re entrepreneurial. You don’t walk for thousands of miles to get food stamps.

America is full of the stories of immigrants who have built the country: the Irish who fought for the Union in the Civil War, the Chinese who laid the transcontinental railroad, the Eastern Europeans who dug coal and made steel, the African slaves who built the South, and the Jews who created Broadway and the atomic bomb.

But there has also long been opposition to immigration in America, from the “Know Nothing” movement before the Civil War, to the GOP’s racist Immigration Act of 1924 and now Donald Trump’s vow to build giant internment camps and deport millions if re-elected. Opponents site competition for jobs, but it’s really based on cultural and racial fears.

MAGA Republicans are trying to tie the two issues together. They’re opposing desperately needed weapons for Ukraine and Israel unless there is more border security. But the gravity of the situations is vastly different.

Helping Ukraine and Israel defend themselves against dictators and terrorists is the right response to true invasions. The recent migrant surge on the border has nothing to do with it.

Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego. This article is republished from The Times of San Diego which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association.