In an effort to sow discord against Donald Trump’s efforts to protect Americans by removing criminal illegal aliens from the country, Democrats have taken to demonizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, smearing them as Nazis by calling them “Gestapo” and “Brownshirts.”

Anyone familiar with the World War II era knows that comparing American law enforcement to one of the most evil, fascist, and racist regimes in world history is not only below the belt but abjectly despicable.

Just on the bare facts alone, they are not even remotely comparable.

ICE agents are engaged in the legitimate work of arresting noncitizens who are in the country illegally. Furthermore, with millions of illegal aliens having poured into the country during Joe Biden’s presidency as a result of willful negligence, their residing in the U.S. became an issue that could not be ignored any longer. Indeed, the issue of illegal immigration is one of the primary reasons Trump was elected president.

Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has been tremendously successful, especially with regard to shutting down the flow at the southern border.

The second part of Trump’s immigration enforcement was always going to be more controversial. Although Trump stands on solid legal ground in directing ICE to seek out and deport illegal aliens, many Americans still view kicking people out of the country whose only crime is entering illegally as inhumane.

It’s understandable why such a view holds sway. We all can sympathize with a refugee seeking help and safety from their dangerous homeland, or even just working hard for a better life.

But that sympathy has been all too often exploited by those whose primary reason for supporting illegal immigration is about political considerations, not relieving suffering.

Lawlessness begets more lawlessness. And lawlessness begets injustice.

Ignoring the laws of the land is not merciful when it results in causing significant injury and injustice to others. And that is exactly what has been the result of Biden’s open-border malfeasance. Laken Riley is the headline example that comes to mind, but there are many, many more.

Democrats dismiss these violent examples as not indicative of the vast majority of illegal immigrants, as if that were a justification for breaking our immigration laws. Democrats then follow this up with the unverifiable claim that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than citizens.

The trouble is, there is no official tracking of crimes by illegal aliens. Furthermore, no official census numbers are registered for the total number of illegal aliens living within the U.S.

Under Trump, ICE has been targeting criminal illegal aliens for deportation. It’s telling that almost every time Democrats object to illegal aliens being prepared for deportation, those aliens turn out to be really bad guys. Remember “Maryland Man”?

This broad effort by ICE has also encouraged roughly one million illegal aliens to self-deport.

Genuine compassion does not come at the expense of justice, nor does it promote lawlessness. The great irony with the Democrats defending illegal immigration is that it has led to greater crime and abuse — not only of Americans, but of illegal aliens themselves.