Elected Democrats and their loyal propagandists in the corporate media have now fully embraced demagoguery and anarchy in their crusade to block all enforcement of American immigration law. Reviving their strategy from 2020’s “Summer of Love,” they have unleashed an army of left-wing provocateurs who are now claiming a mob veto over even the most basic measures to protect the country’s borders.
Following the death of activist Alex Pretti in a scuffle with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents over the weekend, Senate Democrats are demanding that Republicans remove money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from a key funding bill. If the legislation, which includes funding for six government agencies, does not pass before the end of the week, a partial government shutdown would begin on Friday night.
“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” Senate Minority Leader Schumer said in a statement Sunday afternoon, calling on Republicans to “join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public.”
Democrats’ shutdown brinksmanship represents yet another escalation of their anti-law-and-order radicalism that has been building ever since President Donald Trump returned to office last January. What began as calls from left-wing activists to “Defund ICE” has now become a full-fledged legislative push to close a large part of the federal government – again – unless Republicans cave and remove funding not just for ICE, but for all of DHS.
To say that such a development would be catastrophic for U.S. national security would be putting it mildly. In addition to ICE, the Federal Emergency Management Agency – which is still working around the clock to assist Americans impacted by this weekend’s monster winter storm – falls under the purview of DHS. The Coast Guard, which protects the nation’s waters from drug smugglers and other threats to the homeland, would likewise be affected by DHS funding cuts.
To understand how we arrived at this point, it is important to first understand the game that Democrats are playing. As cynical and destructive as it is, their strategy is a smart one, and Republicans need to understand it if they hope to defeat it.
From the very onset of the Trump administration’s deportation operations, Democrat-run cities and states set out to make immigration enforcement as difficult as possible. Liberal elected officials have barred local police from cooperating with ICE, refusing to hand over known criminal illegal aliens who are in custody. Instead of working in coordination with federal agents to identify illegal aliens, police departments in many Democrat jurisdictions are actively working to protect them from deportation.
Even under previous Democrat presidential administrations, this was not the norm. During Barack Obama’s tenure, localities were required to comply with the Secure Communities Program, which automatically shared fingerprints from local arrests with federal immigration authorities. As a result, deportations were carried out in a far more orderly manner.
Now, Democrats are intentionally forcing ICE enforcement into the streets – where agents become prime targets for an army of activists whom Democrats have openly encouraged to follow, harass, and impede them. This is why virtually all of the clashes involving ICE that have gone viral online have come from blue cities and states. In Republican-controlled jurisdictions – and those few Democrat locales like Memphis that have wisely chosen to cooperate with ICE – there is almost no conflict because federal agents are able to do their jobs quietly and professionally by working with local police and jails.
Minneapolis – under the leadership of Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey – has become the poster child of how Democrats hoped this obstructionist scheme would go. The entire point was to create a powder keg that would eventually blow, thus manufacturing a justification for city-wide unrest, violence, and widespread destruction of property.
Then comes the third and final piece of Democrats’ grand plan to block immigration enforcement despite not controlling a single branch of government: the media pile-on. The liberal messaging machine creates a cacophonous echo chamber through the mainstream press and on social media, decrying ICE as evil fascists, eschewing all context and nuance. Selectively edited clips and sensationalist headlines dominate the news cycle. (Ask yourself why you never saw wall-to-wall coverage of any of the at least 56 individuals who died in ICE custody under the Obama administration.)
This is the same scheme that fueled the rise of the “Defund the Police” movement in 2020, which led to at least 25 deaths in riots nationwide. Those who wonder how the country allowed anarchists to set up “autonomous” police no-go zones in major cities need only look at what is unfolding now to understand.
Republicans and all Americans who care about upholding law and order should not discount the effectiveness of this strategy. While liberal networks exaggerate shifts in public opinion, the reality is that Americans’ support for the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts is wavering. Not because support for immigration enforcement generally has dried up, but because the left’s efforts to muddy the waters and defame ICE agents are having their intended effect.
The only response can be to call out the left’s corrupt game and refuse to back down from delivering on Trump’s promise to the American people in 2024. If Democrats manage to exercise a mob veto over basic law enforcement, then the outcomes of all future Republican victories are effectively rendered null and void. Once the left sees that enough obstruction and lies will force their opponents to back down, the country will never know peace.
Republicans also should not lose sight of the fact that they have the more commonsense and reasonable position on the issue, if only they can make their argument. The clashes between ICE and protestors stop as soon as Democrats start doing their job and handing over illegal aliens in their custody. Supermajorities of Americans support deporting illegal aliens convicted of crimes, and a majority supports deporting all illegal aliens. Democrats should be the ones on the defensive, not Republicans.
Instead of Republicans scrambling to respond to Democrats’ demands, they should be making demands of their own. Tim Walz and Jacob Frey should stop inciting anti-ICE violence and turn over every illegal alien currently in their custody. Every local police department should resume working with ICE to hand over illegal aliens. So-called “sanctuary cities” should immediately stop violating federal immigration law.
Those simple steps that most Americans support are the only tenable solution to the current crisis. Anything less is a betrayal of the public and a betrayal of American sovereignty.
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