The Biden administration has spent millions of taxpayer dollars securing the borders of foreign nations as millions of migrants have flooded across America’s southern border over the past few years, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of federal grant listings.
The State Department in recent months paid out millions of dollars for programs to enhance border security in Iraq, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Serbia, Georgia, Angola, Kenya, Algeria, Somalia, Armenia, Paraguay and Jordan, federal grant records show. As the Biden administration spent millions securing foreign borders, federal authorities reported massive numbers of migrants crossing into the United States, alongside enough fentanyl to kill more than 100 million people.
“It’s insane that this country has been sending money all over the world to secure everyone else’s border for years while leaving ours wide open,” Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is the kind of stuff that destroys countries and it’s a primary reason why the American people rightly hate what goes on in Washington,” he continued.
The State Department in September 2023 doled out $4.9 million intended to improve the “border security capabilities” of Kenya and Somalia by providing border officials in the African countries with training, equipment and mentorship, grant records show. The department also paid out nearly $1 million to train border guards in Iraq and Jordan, according to a grant disclosure.
In addition to training border guards for foreign nations, American taxpayers were also on the hook for helping other countries curb the flow of crime across their borders.
The Biden administration approved nearly $3 million in funding to support programs in Kazakhstan, Georgia and Indonesia aimed at helping the Asian states tackle different forms of border crime, according to grant records.
Kazakhstan’s program aims to reduce “border-related crime” by increasing the country’s ability to detect crimes on its air, land and sea borders. The grant focused on Indonesia, meanwhile, seeks to curb organized crime, smuggling and piracy operations while Georgia’s program funds efforts to squash criminal networks involved in transnational crimes.
Other recent border security grants the Biden administration approved include $500,000 in border security aid to Iraq, over $1 million to aid Serbia, $295,000 for Angola, $2.3 million for border security trainings in Algeria, $400,000 to strengthen border security in Armenia and $2.1 million to improve Paraguay’s border security.
“I have said time and time again, the Biden Administration needs to prioritize American tax dollars to address the chaos at our southern border,” Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told the DCNF.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported nearly 3 million migrant encounters at the southern border between the 2023 fiscal year and the first five months of the 2024 fiscal year.
“The Department of State works tirelessly to enhance the abilities of foreign partners to effectively confront transnational criminal and terrorist threats,” a State Department spokesperson told the DCNF.
“The Department advances these efforts by building the capacity of foreign criminal justice partners, including border guards, and connecting these partners to one another and to U.S. law enforcement to address shared threats, including on the identification and prevention of terrorist travel,” they continued.
These efforts “help keep America’s shores and borders safer,” according to the spokesperson.
While Kenyan, Iraqi, Jordanian and Somalian border guards rake in millions from the federal government, American border officials have complained that a lack of resources is impeding their ability to do their jobs.
Border Patrol, meanwhile, is having to remove personnel from official ports of entry to patrol remote locations frequented by smugglers due to staff shortages.
Between October 2023 and March 2024, Border Patrol reported seizing 6,664 pounds of Marijuana, 995 pounds of cocaine, 3000 pounds of meth and 566 pounds of Fentanyl. It only takes 2 mg of Fentanyl to kill a person, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, meaning that Border Patrol has seized enough of the drug to kill everyone in California more than two times over.
The State Department is currently soliciting applications for a program that will cost an estimated $1.5 million to improve border security in coastal West Africa, according to federal documents.
Moreover, President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package into law on Wednesday. The package includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific as well as provisions that could ban TikTok in the United States. Absent from the bill, however, was funding for America’s southern border, sparking criticism from some Republicans.
Roy told the DCNF that “the House GOP broke its promise to fight for our own sovereignty before taking care of Ukraine.”
Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, alongside other members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, opposed the package due to the lack of border funding. The Freedom Caucus accused the package of supporting “America Last foreign wars” and criticized it for containing “zero border security.”
Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, meanwhile, called the legislation “a massive betrayal,” adding that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson should have “[told] the Biden administration, you don’t get a dime for your foreign priorities until you do your job and secure the border.”
“Why would people elect Republicans if Republicans are more focused on the border of another country than the border of our own country?” he said.
The White House and Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
