The Patriot Post® · An Immigration Election?

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/57459-an-immigration-election-2018-08-01

As the midterm elections approach, there are plenty of Republican DC elites still shaking their heads at “dumb Donald Trump.” They fear he is hurting the party. They still haven’t figured out that he knows the GOP electorate better than they do.

President Trump has managed to aggressively define Democrats as the party of open borders and lawlessness, while he — with little help from GOP leaders — is the one trying to enforce the law and secure our borders. (Even liberal Chris Matthews gets it!)

Clearly, the president is on to something. For the second time in recent weeks, polling reveals that immigration is the number one issue on the minds of most voters. First it was Gallup, now it is the latest Harvard/Harris poll.

Immigration — not health care, not national security, not the economy or even the GOP’s favorite topic, taxes — is what most concerns voters right now. And for good reason.

Progressives want to abolish ICE and let illegal immigrants vote in our elections. Both radical positions are opposed by 70% of the public!

By the way, a previous Harris poll found that nearly two-thirds of voters not only want an end to illegal immigration, they want current levels of legal immigration reduced, not increased — the default position of both political parties.

Just think how much better the GOP might be doing right now if it embraced Trump’s positions on immigration reform and border security, campaigned hard on those issues, and forced tough votes rather than running for the tall grass.

Once again, Trump is demonstrating that he is much more in tune with the American people than the Washington, DC, political class.

Trump vs. Koch

Speaking of out-of-touch elites, I couldn’t help but notice that Charles Koch fired a warning shot across the bow of the Republican Party. Koch said he would take his money away and even oppose Republicans who don’t support his corporatist, open-borders agenda.

For example, Koch is refusing to support Rep. Kevin Cramer in North Dakota. Does he want to see a liberal high-tax Democrat get reelected?

Perhaps Koch and his friends should think about the fact that we couldn’t win the presidency with their kind of presidential candidates. Their libertarian approach isn’t where the country is nor where the Republican Party should be.

And for the record, Charles Koch even flirted with supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016.

President Trump fired back, tweeting:

“The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas… They want to protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed, I’m for America First & the American Worker — a puppet for no one… Make America Great Again!”

Bad Burritos

Believe it or not, illegal immigrants are now suing the federal government over the treatment they received in our detention facilities. And, no, this has nothing to do with the controversial policy of family separation.

We are told that these migrants suffered incredible hardships to get here. That they left countries where they feared being murdered by brutal gangs. That they trekked thousands of miles in fear of being raped. That they endured hunger and extreme thirst.

Yet the moment they cross our border they suddenly turn into the equivalent of whiny college snowflakes.

According to the lawsuit, migrants complained that their soup was cold, that the shelters were chilly, or that they only got two burritos a day. While some allegations are more serious, one illegal immigrant complained about her gluten allergy.

Are we now required to provide gluten-free meals to illegal immigrants? Will we be required to provide Halal meals to some portion of the thousands of people crossing our borders from nations designated as “state sponsors of terrorism”?

Millions of Americans in their 60s and 70s have moving stories of a parent or grandparent who arrived on the shores of this country fleeing persecution and strife. They came not carrying the flag of the country they were from but desperately wanting to wave the flag of this country.

They came to a country without food stamps or welfare. And it would never have crossed their grateful minds to complain that the food was cold!

Sarah Huckabee Sanders can’t eat dinner in a Virginia restaurant, but illegal immigrants have a right to gluten-free burritos?!

To all those in the GOP’s open-borders caucus: What makes you think that the people suing us now would ever vote Republican?

ICE vs. Portland

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and employees are threatening to sue Portland Mayor Tom Wheeler. The union representing ICE agents is charging that the mayor violated the 14th Amendment guaranteeing all citizens equal protection of the law.

According to a formal complaint, ICE agents called 911 several times during the recent standoff with left-wing mobs, but the police refused to come to their assistance because Mayor Wheeler publicly sided with the protestors and ordered the police to stand down.

In one case, a disabled Marine veteran who worked for ICE was followed by demonstrators as he went to pick up his daughter from camp. They shouted “Nazi” and “Gestapo,” and then followed him to his house. He called 911, but the police, under orders from the socialist mayor, refused to respond.

In my opinion, the mayor is very close to sedition.

So here’s a question, class: Which of these lawsuits do you think has the greatest chance of being dismissed by the courts — the illegal immigrants demanding gluten-free food options or the ICE agents who were abandoned by Portland’s progressive politicians? I fear it is the latter.

By the way, President Trump devoted his weekly address to praising the men and women of ICE. He said:

“Without the brave heroes of ICE, we would have no enforcement, no laws, no borders and therefore — we wouldn’t even have a country… So to the courageous public servants at ICE: we want you to know that the American people are with you and my administration has your back 100 percent.”