The Senate voted unanimously to cease aid to Azerbaijan for two years due to concerns about a potential invasion of Armenia.
This follows the departure of over 100,000 Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region amid an Azerbaijani siege.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been monitoring the situation and indicated that the U.S. is not planning to renew a waiver allowing military assistance to Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, the migrant crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border has worsened, with a record number of encounters reported. (Trending: Joe Biden Impeachment Formalized As Republicans Unite)
Sen. Gary Peters said, “We must send a strong message and show our partners around the world that America will enforce the conditions that we attach to military aid.”
“If we do not take action when countries willfully ignore the terms of our agreements with them, our agreements will become effectively meaningless and toothless,” he continued.
According to Politico, “Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has previously called on Armenia to open a ‘corridor’ along its southern border, linking mainland Azerbaijan to an exclave that borders Turkey and Iran. Aliyev has threatened to solve the issue ‘by force.’.
In an Oct. 3 phone call, lawmakers pressed Blinken on possible measures against Aliyev in response to his country’s invasion of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in September, the people said, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive call.
Blinken responded that the State Department was looking at avenues to hold Azerbaijan accountable and isn’t planning to renew a long-standing waiver that allows the U.S. to provide military assistance to Baku.
Defense News reported, “Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday before the Senate vote that the Biden administration does not intend to renew the waiver needed to provide security aid to Azerbaijan.”
“The waiver is a longstanding point of contention between the State Department and the Congressional Armenian Caucus, which boasts more than 100 lawmakers,” added the outlet.
According to Fox News, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources reported “that there were over 12,000 migrant encounters on Tuesday, adding that “over 10,200 of those were Border Patrol encounters of illegal immigrants coming between ports of entry.”
“That Border Patrol number is among the highest number of encounters ever recorded for the agency by itself but breaks a record when combined with the encounters by CBP’s Office of Field Operations at ports of entry,” the outlet continued.
Republicans and Democrats are at odds over a border package, with differing views on admissions, parole, and amnesty for illegal migrants.
The Biden administration is seeking $14 billion more for border operations.
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