Senate Democrats are a disgrace. Last Friday, for the fifth time, they voted against funding for the Department of Homeland Security, putting American lives in jeopardy due to political theater.
Historically, departmental bills are not broken apart. Accordingly, with 227,566 employees working without pay – across critical agencies, including ICE, CBP, US Coast Guard, FEMA, Secret Service, TSA, USCIS, and vital directorates, tensions are growing, and patience is thinning.
Democrats, objecting to removal operations by ICE of criminal aliens with deportation orders, administrative warrants, and otherwise deportable, have announced that they will block all funding to punish ICE.
Their aim is to placate the party’s leftwing, projecting sympathy for illegal aliens and asylum seekers whose claims failed or who are deportable for other reasons, with the knock-on effect of encouraging aliens who vote in non-ID states – albeit illegally – to vote for Democrats.
The playbook is now dog-eared, rolled out under many other pretenses. The new twist is that – by denying money to DHS –Senate Democrats now put American lives at risk in seven ways.
Not only do Democrats risk tired, unpaid, demoralized ICE officers being unable to apprehend criminal aliens, who include thousands of felons, but they are not endangering American lives in other ways by weakening border protection, rescues at sea, emergency response capacity, protection of senior leadership – including the President and Vice President, slowing and impairing travel nationwide, and diminishing vital intelligence feeds to law enforcement.
The level of recklessness this represents – selfish, adolescent grandstanding to humiliate ICE agents who rise and go to protect citizens daily – is breathtaking. At no time in recent – or even distant – history can a student of congressional dysfunction find an example of a parallel kind.
While short-term shutdowns to resolve funding disputes are common and typically resolved with short-term “continuing resolutions” that allow all federal officials to be paid, this is different.
The United States is at war with a radical Islamic regime, which, objectively, is the world’s top sponsor of terrorism, has nuclear weapon and long-range ballistic missile ambitions, has sworn to destroy US allies and, intermittently, the US, and has likely sleeper cells in the US.
Already, violence on behalf of that Islamic nation has appeared in the US. In many locations, federal and state law enforcement – already undermanned – are on alert, vigilant for violence.
Compounding the risk of forcing agents and others to work unpaid, as weariness and anxiety over meeting expenses grow, the impact on everyday operations, especially at borders, airports, in our littoral waters, and in responding to crises, is growing.
Wo unto these Senate Democrats, who glibly pretend America is safe without their funding, if any major event – in our skies, at our borders, or involving critical missing skills from ICE, CBP, US Coast Guard, or other agencies – happens.
The essential fact is this. These Senate Democrats, and many Democrats in leadership positions around the country, do not put Americans or the safety of US citizens first. They do not put the safety of America before their egos, media coverage, partisan rancor, or illegal aliens.
In the end, this is a moment of profound revelation, or perhaps confirmation, that these increasingly radical Democrat leaders care less about everyday people than themselves. On one hand, they proclaim they care, while on the other, they dishonor their seats.
Enough of this partisan, care-nothing-for-citizens attitude by the elites. The men and women of DHS, ICE agents, and the rest deserve our gratitude, respect, and funding. Fund DHS – now.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
