Former United States president and current presidential hopeful Donald Trump on Saturday (Feb 10) celebrated the collapse of a bipartisan bill that talked about reforms to address the US-Mexico border crisis. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans rejected the bill that would have included the much-needed new funding for Ukraine, plus aid for Israel, along with reforms to address the border crisis.
At a rally in South Carolina, Trump celebrated the collapse of the legislation, vowing that, if reelected, he would carry out a massive “deportation operation” on his first day in office. “Let’s not forget that this week we also had another massive victory that every conservative should celebrate. We crushed crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous open borders bill,” Trump said.
“The whole group did a great job in Congress,” he added.
Largest domestic deportation operation in US history
During the rally, Trump said that on his first day in office, he would terminate every open border policy of the Biden administration and Washington would begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
According to a report by the news agency AFP, the Senate is considering a foreign aid package that decouples the aid from the border issue entirely. The package, which is worth $95 billion, set to be debated next week includes funding for Israel’s fight against Hamas militants and for key strategic ally Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Trump also said that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members who had not met their financial obligations.
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Describing a conversation with a fellow head of state at an unspecified NATO meeting, he said, “One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent?'”
“No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
