Democrats’ bizarre affection for illegal aliens
Why does Newark’s Mayor Ras Baraka consider it a badge of honor to be arrested trying to barge into an ICE detention center in New Jersey? Similarly, why does Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen think it advances his presidential ambitions to champion Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and serial wife beater? And why are Democrat mayors so keen to oppose Trump’s criminal deportations?
These are the mysteries of the untethered Democratic Party, which appears to have forgotten that illegal immigration was a driving force behind Donald Trump’s astonishing political comeback.
President Trump was elected president last year by Americans furious that Joe Biden had allowed millions of people to storm across our border illegally. In several polls during the campaign, immigration surfaced as a top issue for voters, second only to the economy and high inflation. After the election, voters ranked solving the border crisis the president’s most important priority.
The week Trump took office, an AP poll showed 83% of the country favored deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a violent crime; 67% thought immigrant criminals living in the U.S. legally should be deported. These are astonishing numbers; it’s hard to get such sizable majorities of Americans to agree on anything – and especially anything to do with immigration.
And yet, Democratic officials defiantly stand against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of Homeland Security that last year seized 1.6 million pounds of narcotics, 757,478 pounds of precursor chemicals used to make drugs including fentanyl, and identified or rescued 1,783 exploited children. These are the good guys.
Just this past week, progressive Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell sent a letter to his constituents railing against recent enforcement actions in Tennessee, which included ICE arrests of a convicted child sex predator, an alleged member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, a person convicted of aggravated assault as well as several illegal aliens guilty of drug-related crimes.
Mayor O’Connell should welcome the removal of those people from his community, but instead wrote, “This type of federal enforcement action is not focused on making us safer and leaves people in our community fearing any interaction with law enforcement when there is a crime occurring.”
O’Connell joins Michelle Wu of Boston, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and other Democrat mayors who would rather protect immigrants – even those who have committed crimes – than cooperate with ICE. Not since the “defund the police” idiocy took hold of blue cities have we seen such a clear disregard for voter preferences and Americans’ safety.
Democrats tell us that Trump is breaking the law by ignoring the right of illegal aliens being deported to “due process.” But it was under President Barack Obama that the right to “due process” came to be largely ignored, even as he deported a record 5.3 million people. (Note that figure includes removals and returns at the border.) According to the ACLU, under Obama only one out of four “removals”, who should have received individual hearings before a judge, actually did so.
In less than four months, President Trump has brought the southern border under control, as he promised he would. Last month, apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico borderplummeted 93% compared to last year. The administration also announced recently that only five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 a year ago. What a difference a president can make.
But, of course, President Joe Biden didn’t want to secure the border; he encouraged the uncontrolled influx of undocumented migrants into our nation, hoping to expand the base of Democrat voters. But it turns out that many people from Latin and South America were disgusted by Biden’s policies. It was, after all, their neighborhoods that attracted the Spanish-speaking migrants and that became less safe after their arrival. Increased gang activity, including drug dealing and sex trafficking, transformed many communities; no longer could they safely take a stroll after dinner, no longer could they let their kids play outside with confidence.
All of which makes Democrats’ current embrace of criminal illegals especially mystifying. Over the weekend, the effort of Newark’s mayor and three Democratic members of Congress to “inspect” the ICE facility known as Delaney Hall turned into a melee, with the representatives accused of shoving ICE officers, which they deny. Democrats are so intent on publicizing this embarrassment that they arranged an interfaith prayer service to attract attention the next day, complete with clergy supposedly demanding that officials release the names of those detained.
Do Democrats think that in just a few short months Americans’ attitudes towards illegal immigration have changed? That Trump has overplayed his hand?
Critics of the White House seize on any straw available to challenge today’s policies. Recently, two children were deported, which caused hysteria on the Left. How inhumane! How cruel!
It turned out that the mothers of those children had themselves been deported, and they had (naturally) requested to take their children with them. The alternative, separating the youngsters from their mothers, would have been inhumane.
Also, inhumane was releasing tens of thousands of unaccompanied alien children to “unrelated sponsors or distant relatives” with lax oversight and vetting during Biden’s presidency. Law enforcement officers say that practice put kids “at the highest risk for trafficking”, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security.
Americans are compassionate, and the majority came to our country from other lands, making most tolerant of immigration. Indeed, most recognize that the U.S. needs immigrants to allow our country to grow, which is why Congress should act to overhaul our dysfunctional immigration laws.
But we do not need to welcome people who will bring crime and violence. Those people should be sent packing, which is what the Trump administration is doing, and high time.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/liz-peek-democrats-bizarre-affection-illegal-aliens
Published on Fox News
