The Patriot Post® · Politicizing Immigration

When it comes to immigration, America is a very welcoming country. We are, as the saying goes, a nation of immigrants. And we continue to admit one million people a year through the legal immigration process. 

Unfortunately, the Left has politicized our immigration policies. Rather than debating various policies and evaluating them on their merits and benefits to the country, the Left is concerned primarily about the political benefits. And the Left is all in on the idea that open borders helps progressives win power. 

If you don’t believe me, just consider the dramatic shift that has taken place on this issue. It wasn’t that long ago when leading Democrats opposed illegal immigration. Now Democrats are threatening to shut down the government unless we accommodate illegal immigrants. 

What explains this dramatic shift? Politics. But you don’t have to take my word for it.  

Jennifer Palmieri, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, authored a memo for the left-wing Center For American Progress Action Fund, in which she writes the following:

“Democrats need to stand with Dreamers and do whatever it takes to ensure they remain in this country… Political allegiances are made in moments like these… If Democrats don’t try to do everything in their power to defend Dreamers, that will jeopardize Democrats’ electoral chances in 2018 and beyond. In short, the next few weeks will tell us a lot about the Democratic Party and its long-term electoral prospects.”

To give you some idea of just how ingrained this view has become, former Vice President Joe Biden frequently bragged that it was a “good thing” that “those of us of European stock” will become a minority in the United States. 

How far we have come from the vision of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who yearned for the day when we would be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.

By the way, now that Oprah is being talked about as a potential presidential candidate, she may have to explain her quote about “generations of people” who “just have to die." 

Restoring the Rule of Law

The media have been in a meltdown over the past 24 hours over the Trump administration’s announcement that 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador need to return home. The left-wing outlet Vox accused the president of launching a "full-blown war” against “humanitarian immigration." 

But as Bill Clinton noted in his 1995 State of the Union address, while we are nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws. 

Here’s what is missing from much of the media commentary: These immigrants came here after a major earthquake … in 2001. They were granted "temporary protected status” and allowed to live and work here while the areas impacted by the earthquake were repaired. 

The law requires the government to periodically review those conditions. In November, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador wrote, “Every year we have to justify that the current situation is the result of the 2001 earthquakes and it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so." 

Finally, after 17 years, the government has determined that it is safe for these temporary immigrants to return home. After nearly two decades, their "temporary” status will be ended next year.

To be clear, President Trump is simply following the law, just as he did when he ended Barack Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

Another issue that caused the media a lot of heartburn recently was Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to enforce the federal laws against marijuana use. Sessions was condemned by the media and even some Republicans. 

But the law is clear. And if his critics don’t like the law, the appropriate response is to change the law, not bash the attorney general for doing his job.

This is another example of the Trump administration’s commitment to restoring the rule of law in America and rolling back Barack Obama’s repeated abuses of executive authority.