Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says a wall on the U.S. southern border is “an immorality.”
Given that the U.S. has more than 650 miles of physical barriers on its southern border with Mexico and that Congress has approved the construction of border barriers under the previous three presidents, including more than 130 miles under former President Barack Obama, Pelosi’s statement just doesn’t square with reality.
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has been selected by Democrats to deliver her party’s response to President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address, recently told PBS that she isn’t opposed to illegal aliens voting in local elections.
In light of an ongoing Texas investigation, where tens of thousands of non-citizens were found to have voted in the Lone Star state dating back to 1996, and the Democrats adamant refusal to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, something that has been included in past census surveys, one has to question the blue team’s commitment to ballot-box integrity.{mosads}
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), who clearly has one eye on the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, recently announced a plan to give 300,000 illegal immigrants in New York City free health care. Not only will this ploy cost Gotham’s taxpayers more, but it serves as a magnet for other illegal aliens to take up residence in the Big Apple.
Not to be outdone by de Blasio, newly inaugurated California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has vowed to make California, the most populous state in the country, a “sanctuary to all who seek it.” Like de Blasio, Newsom not only wants to extend health care and other government benefits to illegal aliens but he has no interest whatsoever in complying with federal immigration law. In fact, Newsom is trying to thwart it at just about every turn.
And then there is media darling and progressive rabble rouser Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) who during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history voted against a bill to re-open the federal government because it funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which she wants to abolish.
Of course, Ocasio-Cortez’s position on ICE begs the simple but realistic question: If the agency charged with the interior enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws is abolished, who or what should take its place? A quick glance at progressive strongholds around the nation suggests no one. In other words, the sovereignty and security of the United States as well as the safety of its citizens should be damned because illegal aliens have just as much right to be in the U.S. as legal citizens, according to some progressives.
So how is one to interpret the recent statements and actions of these prominent Democrats? The Democrats can talk until they are blue in the face about their support for stronger border security on the nation’s southern border, but when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration, not only do they have zero interest in getting it under control, they are in fact promoting and incentivizing people to come to the U.S. illegally.{mossecondads}
The position of today’s Democratic Party on illegal immigration is a radical departure from its stance just a few years ago. In 2009, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that “illegal immigration is wrong.” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took a similar position on illegal immigrants in 2008 by stating that “we certainly do not want any more coming in.” And there is former President Obama, who in his 2013 State of the Union address vowed to send illegal immigrants “to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.”
So what explains Democrats’ startling 180 on illegal immigration?
The lazy, short-term answer is that Donald Trump sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and a central promise of his 2016 campaign was building the wall. Yes, it is no secret that Democrats want to make him a one-term president by driving a wedge between Trump and his base on a key issue. They will stop at nothing to achieve this goal.
But there is a more sinister long-term answer for the Democrats’ whole-hearted embrace of illegal immigration. A 2018 Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund memo sheds light on this. The memo, co-authored by former Hillary Clinton communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, argues that the Democratic Party needs to protect illegal immigrants brought here at a young age as a result of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program because they are “a critical component of the Democratic Party’s future electoral success.”
This is an astonishing statement. It would seem that — as the Washington Times put it — “[w]ith declining support from white and older Americans, the Democrats have concluded that their future lies in importing a new electorate from south of the border.”
So it is full speed ahead on illegal immigration for the Democrats, and they don’t want Republicans gumming up the works even if their name is not Donald Trump. They will claim their position is rooted in compassion and in upholding American values when in fact it is primarily about naked politics and importing a new set of voters, as their ideas become increasingly too far-fetched for the citizens who currently reside legally within America’s borders.
Ford O’Connell served as director of rural outreach for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign; he runs a political consulting business, is an adjunct professor at The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, and is a regular commentator on FOX Business. He has also appeared on CNN. Follow him on Twitter @FordOConnell.