Loose Ends (153)

• Jim Geraghty of National Review passes along this factoid this morning: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported just 55,590 illegal immigrants in 2021, the fewest number in five years.”

Chaser from Jim: “It sounds farcical to hear Kamala Harris pledging to protect Ukraine’s borders at the Munich Security Conference when she and the rest of the Biden administration have done such an abysmal job of protecting America’s borders.”

Chaser:

Biden to pay Texas ranchers and farmers for property damage by illegal migrants

AUSTIN, Texas — The Biden administration has agreed to reimburse farmers and ranchers across 33 Texas counties for damages sustained in the surge of illegal immigration and drug smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border.

In an unprecedented move, the Department of Agriculture announced an initiative this week that would provide financial assistance to landowners “currently impacted by damage to fields and farming infrastructure,” though the government news release skirted mentioning what had caused the widespread damages.

• How deranged must you be not to figure this out:

PORTLAND, Ore. — A deadly weekend shooting in Portland at a protest against police killings left one person dead and five others wounded, raising tensions once again among the city’s social justice activists.

Nice to have police around sometimes, isn’t it? Yeah—police are the problem. That’s the ticket. I hear that Portland is offering large bonuses for officers who quit during the “defund” mania to return to the force.

• I neglected to report on a recent Berkeley/IGS Poll (I used to share offices with the IGS pollster Mark DiCamillo, and he’s first rate) that finds leading Democrats are now underwater in California:

Californians’ job approval ratings of both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have declined over the past six months. Voters here are now about evenly divided in their assessments of the job Biden is doing as President, with 47% approving and 48% disapproving. Last summer Biden’s approval ratings in the state were 59% to 37%.

The job ratings that Californians now give to home state Vice President Harris are even lower than the President’s, with 38% rating her performance positively and 46% negatively, down from a 49% to 38% positive assessment last July. . .

In addition, the poll finds that U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s job ratings are now at an all-time low. At present, just 30% of the state’s registered voters approve, while 49% disapprove of her performance in office. A major contributor to Feinstein’s negative standing is that she is falling out of favor among many of the state’s traditionally Democratic voting constituencies. The five-term Senator now receives more negative than positive job ratings from strong liberals, women, voters of color, younger voters, as well as voters in Los Angeles County or the San Francisco Bay Area.

At the moment, I believe Sen. Feinstein has indicated her intention to run for re-election in 2024. (She’s filed the campaign paperwork with the FEC.) When she’ll be 91. Maybe she just wants to make Biden look youthful by comparison.

What about Gavin? He might be in trouble:

The latest Berkeley IGS Poll finds California voters now hold a more critical view of the job Gavin Newsom is doing as governor than they did immediately prior to his successful defeat of last year’s recall election. According to the poll, 48% of the state’s registered voters approve of the Governor’s performance overall, while 47% disapprove.

These ratings compare to more positive appraisals found by the poll in July and September of last year, when 50% approved and 42% disapproved, and are significantly lower than was found in September 2020.