Joe Biden’s campaign platform is beginning to creep out of his basement and so far, it is not a pretty picture. That was the opening line to a recent blog and the subject was
BIDEN’S “PLAN” FOR EDUDATION. For those of you who missed the blog, Joe got an “F” on education. This time, let’s look at a second pressing national issue, immigration.
All persons residing in the U.S. are supposed to fall into one of three categories; that is, a U.S. citizen or those with a Green Card permanent resident status or temporary inhabitants with Visitor or Student Visas.
The democrats would have you believe there are 10-12 million illegal residents. Professors from MIT and Yale, using more sophisticated methodology, estimated in September 2018 that as many as 22.1 million undocumented aliens could be in the U.S. They came to three conclusions; that 10-12 million is no longer viable, for sure there are at least 16 million and more likely over 20 million. One thing is for certain, we do not know who they are or where they reside.
A nation that cannot secure its borders against drug traffic, criminals, gangs, human trafficking and illegal aliens has a serious national security problem.
President Trump has worked this issue and managed to bring it under reasonable control. But the democrats will absolutely reverse all of those gains. Why? It is common knowledge that the democrats see illegal aliens in general and Hispanics in particular as a valuable future voting bloc.
In a recent news conference, President Trump outlined 42 things Biden will do if elected. Nineteen of them had to do with immigration:
- Abolish immigration detention.
- Stop all deportation.
- End prosecution of illegal border crossers.
- Support the deadly sanctuary cities.
- Incentivize illegal-alien child smuggling.
- Expand asylum for all new illegal aliens.
- Cancel all asylum cooperation agreements with Honduras, Guatemala, with El Salvador.
- Taxpayer-funded lawyers will be given to all illegal aliens.
- Abolish immigration enforcement against illegal workers.
- Restore Catch and Release policies for illegals.
- Grant work permits for illegal aliens.
- Provide taxpayer subsidies and welfare for illegal aliens and new immigrants.
- Federal Student Aid and free community college for illegal aliens.
- Sign new immigrants up for welfare immediately.
- End requirement for immigrants’ self-sufficiency and maximize their welfare.
- End all travel bans, including from jihadist regions.
- Grant mass amnesty.
- Vastly expand low-skilled immigration to the United States.
- Increase refugee admissions by 700 percent.
The fact-checkers, democrats and main-stream media went crazy saying there is nothing in the Biden’s platform that says he will take those actions. Of course, they are correct; Biden will not RUN on open borders and amnesty for all. But President Trump is also correct; if Biden is elected, he will execute these actions. He won’t have a choice; the democrat party will demand it. Why?
For decades the democrat party has been synonymous with identity politics, particularly Black American voters. Additionally, for several years they have seen the illegal alien Hispanic community as a new political identity target. In 2016 Hillary Clinton was running on a platform promoting, “a pathway to citizenship.”
Trumps 2016 victory was a huge setback for the democrats’ plans for two reasons. One, Immigration reform was an over-arching issue in Trumps campaign and it was the exact opposite of what the democrats intended to do. Secondly, Trump not only campaigned on stopping the continuous flow of illegal immigrants, drugs, criminals, terrorists and human trafficking, he immediately set out to fix it.
Biden’s 14-page platform on immigration is littered with soft language and propaganda. For example, “Biden will move immediately to ensure that the U.S. meets its responsibilities as a nation of immigrants.” He says he will, “End prolonged detention.” That is code for catch-and-release which was the Obama/Biden centerpiece and the reason we now have over 20 million illegals. Then there is, “End the mismanagement of the asylum system.” More catch-and-release. “Welcome immigrants in our communities.” That is to say, amnesty for all. The one thing his website does NOT say, is how he will reduce illegal immigration.
Let’s be clear about what is happening with Biden on immigration. As pointed out there is the soft language in his printed platform and then there are the direct answers to questions during rare occasions when he is being questioned by the media.
Earlier this year during the democrat primaries, there was open dialogue concerning, “Support for the elimination of criminal penalties for entering the country illegally”. That democrat position is a euphemism for open borders. Why don’t they just come clean and say it, we democrats are for open borders?
During a recent interview Biden was asked if he would introduce immigration reform legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants promptly after assuming office. “I already have the bill,” Biden said. And, he continued, “I will get it done in the first week.” There it is, amnesty, pure and simple. In that interview, Biden went on to say, “illegal immigrants should have access to the same health benefits everyone else has.”
Homeland Security reports that from fiscal years 2017 to 2019, ICE agents arrested and eventually deported around 205,000 convicted criminals and about 36,000 immigrants with pending criminal charges. Over that same period, ICE deported around 17,000 known or suspected gang members and 145 known or suspected terrorists. Keep your powder dry because Biden says he, “Will limit ICE’s ability to deport criminals.”
Doing the math on the 258,000 deportees cited above, over a 24-month period that would be, an average, deportation of 353 really bad folks a day. So, when Biden emphatically declares he, “Will not deport a single soul in my first 100 days in office, that’s about 35,000 criminals that will still be in our neighborhoods but shouldn’t be. Furthermore, what is the intellectual point about not doing something the first 100 days? Is he signaling that deportations may be eliminated all together? Given that he wants to reverse every gain made during the Trump presidency, that would be a valid conclusion.
Then there are the democrat-established sanctuary cities; a place of refuge for illegal aliens and criminals. Biden has said he will, “expand sanctuary locations.” Another scary proposal.
Amnesty-for-all is not only a slap in the face to the millions of upstanding citizens who worked through the immigration system legally but the long-term ramifications of amnesty-for-all are unthinkable. Once amnesty-for-all is initiated the precedent is set and precedent is a powerful force. Organizations are generally change-averse and that includes this country. But once the work has been done to overturn the rock, the next time it is easy. It is highly likely that amnesty-for-all will become the norm in the future every time the democrats are in power.
How many will there be the next time? There are actually hundreds of millions of people world-wide who would jump at the chance to immigrate to the US. The prospect of a second round of amnesty-for-all will likely result in all of our borders being overwhelmed by attempted illegal entry.
Consider that you are one of those want-a-be poor folks in Guatemala and you can foresee crossing an open border, getting on welfare, enroll in Medicare, free legal assistance, reside in government housing in a sanctuary city, have a government-issued work permit and look forward to guaranteed citizenship. You build it and they will come….. by the tens of millions.
There are about 47 million Hispanic citizens in the US plus another 20 million illegals. Politically, this is the holy grail for the democrats. The democrats foresee a dynasty in power for years to come if they can get a strong hold on this Hispanic identity group. The complete revamp of the immigration system in the nineteen immigration initiatives outlined above by President Trump will certainly do just that.
P.S. One thing Biden conveniently left out of his platform was a position on restraining illegal- entry children in cages. You will recall the mainstream media going nuts and reporting, “Inside an old warehouse in South Texas, hundreds of children wait in a series of cages created by metal fencing.” You will recall that was headline news until the media finally discovered that the pictures were file photos from the Obama era.
Finally, I cannot help but take a swipe at Speaker Pelosi. How many dozens of times has she lectured us during her weekly news conferences saying, “No one is above the law.” I’m suggesting she needs to modify that as follows: No one is above the law except the millions of illegal aliens living among us.
Bottom line: Open borders, amnesty-for-all and failure to deport illegal immigrant criminals are irrational policies, defy intellectual honesty and threaten our national security. They may provide an up-side for the democrat party but, Joe, is there any value-added for America? I think not.
On the upside, Joe, you are at least consistent; an “F” in education reform and now I’m giving you a “F” in immigration.
Marv Covault, Lt Gen, US Army, retired.