If you watched the recent debates it’s clear that 2020 Democrats are pushing for decriminalizing unauthorized entry into the United States and free healthcare for illegal immigrants. It’s frightening to think this might be what the party will adopt as part of its platform—especially considering that according to recent polls, most Americans believe the 2020 Democrats are too far to the left and too extreme.
While 2020 Democrats are living in a fantasy world by believing their policies are within the mainstream, their plans are being met with skepticism and criticism from within the party, according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, some Democrats are questioning the basic legal underpinnings of U.S. immigration enforcement and challenging the long-held consensus that a robust detention and deportation system is necessary to prevent an even bigger flood of illegal immigrations into the United States.
On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he would “virtually eliminate immigration detention” by executive order. During last week’s debate, presidential candidate Julián Castro proposed decriminalizing illegal border crossings — a position other Democrats in the race rapidly adopted.
Others in the party are urging caution, saying the push toward decriminalization risks playing into Trump’s hands at the very moment his strategy to stem the tide of Central American migration is showing signs of progress.
“That is tantamount to declaring publicly that we have open borders,” said Jeh Johnson, who ran the Department of Homeland Security during President Barack Obama’s second term. “That is unworkable, unwise and does not have the support of a majority of American people or the Congress, and if we had such a policy, instead of 100,000 apprehensions a month, it will be multiples of that.”
When you have Obama’s secretary of Homeland Security calling out 2020 Democrats for supporting open borders and calling that policy “unworkable” it’s obvious there’s a problem. And Jeh Johnson isn’t the only one. Juliette Kayyem, the former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security under Obama, wrote the following in the Washington Post on Monday:
The [Section] 1325 debate, then, allows Democrats to avoid what can’t be avoided: that a nation based on laws must have deportation, enforcement and removal standards to protect its borders. It is too easy to say Trump is ruthless in this regard, though he is. But regardless of whether repeal of 1325 is good or bad politics for the party, the reality is that the next president will need to govern the United States. And that requires laws that allow a commander in chief to protect the borders, deport individuals and keep some people out. [emphasis mine]
Former Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill also said on MSNBC last month, “Open borders is not the way we beat Donald Trump.” Unfortunately for the Democrats, that’s what the entire clown car of 2020 candidates is choosing to embrace. Fortunately for the rest of us, that makes it easier for Trump to get reelected.
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Matt Margolis is the author of the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published on July 30, 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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