 Democrats in U.S. Congress reject demands for new border policies in exchange for Ukraine aid. Democrats have rejected demands made by Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, that the U.S. border with Mexico be strengthened in return for aiding Ukraine according to the Hill. Johnson stated that Republicans in the House of Representatives would reject any additional aid to give, unless significant elements of the GOP's previous border bill, such as building hundreds of miles of new wall under U.S.-Mexico border were included. The border fight is coming and we're going to die on that hill, he said. House Democrats, who are in favor of stricter immigration restrictions but not more funding for border security, immediately hit back against those remarks. They have threatened to thwart any package on Ukraine that contains those border security clauses if Johnson puts it to a vote, which is a serious threat because democratic support is required for the bill to pass. Unfortunately, it would be to the detriment of Ukraine if they did that, said Democrat congressman Mark Pokhan. The border wall in particular has been the subject of fierce debate between the parties in recent years, and Johnson's proposal was swiftly rejected by Democrats who warned that they would never support a package on Ukraine that included the construction of a wall as envisioned in the Republican border bill. That's a non-starter for me and I think for most of us, said Democratic congressman Juan Vargas. I don't think it's realistic. Benny Thompson, the senior Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, commented as well. Democratic congressman Raul Grialva went even further accusing Republicans of offering pseudo solutions to very complex problems with the sole purpose of riling nationalist voters.