The $1.7 trillion year-end omnibus spending bill uses hundreds of millions of dollars of American taxpayer money to fund border security initiatives overseas as the United States, at its own border, is projected to set illegal immigration records next year.
The spending bill includes $410 million “for enhanced border security” in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman. At least $150 million of the funding is to be used to help Jordan secure its borders.
The hundreds of millions of dollars for border security thousands of miles away from the U.S. comes after Republicans and Democrats negotiated a similar plan in March that saw about $370 million go to border security initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa.
In June of last year, Congress authorized nearly a billion dollars in border security initiatives for Middle Eastern and North African countries.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s administration is projected to oversee 2.6 million border crossers and illegal aliens arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border next year — a figure that would eclipse this year’s record of about 2.3 million encounters.