Democrats Are Key Obstacle to Border Crisis Solution

Even left-leaning media have had enough of the Democratic Party’s incessant “assailing” of President Trump and refusal to “address the roots of this genuine crisis.”

By Mark Anderson

Today’s Democratic Party is no longer your grandparents’ Democratic Party. The party that once stood up for America’s working class has become little more than a criminal syndicate that makes largely unrealistic or unachievable political overtures while leveraging lawlessness as its underlying credo. Just as the “Demonrats” will do nothing to defend the defenseless in their zeal to promote abortion at any stage of pregnancy, it follows that national borders also will be afforded no defense by a pathetic party that has essentially descended into Marxism.

The situation regarding the southern border has gotten so bad that even Fareed Zakaria, a liberal- leaning globalist host on the pro-Democrat CNN network, spoke out on the Democratic Party’s ridiculous antics while noting that the border crisis long denied by the Democrats actually exists.

“Democrats have spent most of their efforts on this topic, assailing the Trump administration for its heartlessness,” said Zakaria, a longtime Council on Foreign Relations member. “Fine. But that does not address the roots of this genuine crisis. If things continue to spiral downward and America’s southern border seems out of control, Trump’s tough rhetoric and hardline stance will become increasingly attractive to the public.”

And while Zakaria’s comments certainly apply to the two dozen or so Democratic presidential candidates—all of whom spout the tiresome view that illegal immigrants’ rights supersede those of American citizens—they surely apply to Congress, especially a Democratic-led House that points fingers instead of ensuring the passage of vitally necessary legislation to make sure President Donald Trump has the tools and funds to faithfully execute the laws of this nation and defend the border. The Democrats’ blame game also sparked comments from acting Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli, who recently told Fox News that the Democrats are simply “complaining about a crisis at the border they have done nothing to solve.”

Cuccinelli correctly stated that a surge of asylum claims is overwhelming American facilities whose resources are severely strained. Amid media- fed impressions that illegal immigrants are frequently mistreated—including discredited claims the asylum-seekers are being tortured in facilities akin to “concentration camps”—he said the reality of so many people illegally entering the U.S. has inevitably resulted in poor conditions from the sheer volume of the onslaught.

“People in the House [of Representatives] come down and complain . . . while not helping fix the problem,” he told Fox News Sunday. “It’s the height of hypocrisy.”

Cuccinelli also visited an El Paso, Texas detention facility that had a maximum capacity of 800 people, but by the time he got there, it had considerably more.

“It was being run well. It was run safely, and so forth, but once you’re over those capacity points, you encounter problems,” he said. He called on Congress to pass legislation that would change asylum laws in ways that would limit the numbers of those who can enter the U.S., but he was not optimistic that lawmakers will act properly.

One of the latest Harvard/Harris polls found that 51% of American voters support mass deportations of the 11 million to 22 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. should Congress fail to reach a deal that closes asylum system loopholes. “More than eight in 10 Republican voters [and] more than 5-in-10 swing voters said President Trump should carry out mass deportations of illegal aliens following congressional inaction. Nearly nine in 10 Trump supporters said the same,” reported Breitbart news, citing that poll. On June 26, the Senate, with a thunderous 84- 8 vote, did approve $4.6 billion in “emergency humanitarian aid” for the southwestern border, leading to discussions between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on how to reach a compromise whereby the bill could pass both chambers and get to Trump’s desk. But Congress needs to steadily hear from AFP readers and all Americans on the border crisis via calls and letters to their local and national offices.

Tell Congress members that building the wall, especially in the most strategic areas, still matters and that Border Patrol agents need authorization to process asylum claims, even while more immigration judges need to be sworn in and assigned the task of drastically reducing the backlog and therefore the overcrowding. Tell them Trump must be permitted to secure the border with the funds and tools already authorized by Congress, but that more provisions are needed. The Capitol Hill switchboard numbers for any House or Senate member are: (202) 224-3121 or 225-3121.

Mark Anderson is AFP’s roving editor. Email him at [email protected].