Immigration
April 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
House Democrats say they want White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller to testify about a plan to release illegal immigrants into sanctuary cities. The plan reportedly has been discussed, but only as one option. It has not been implemented. Getting Miller to testify before a congressional committee is a non-starter. Officials appointed by the president testify before Congress. Aides don’t. Thus, as the Washington Post acknowledges, two aides to former
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April 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Two points about the following headline in Friday’s Washington Post: “Democrats lack unified stance on solving border crisis.” First, the Post is acknowledging something that the mainstream media has long denied — the existence of a border crisis. The phrase “border crisis” also appears in the headline of the online version of the story. And it appears in the Post article itself, not just in the words of sources but
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April 14, 2019 — Steven Hayward
It is fun to watch the left react to Trump’s suggestion that he might send migrants and asylum seekers to “sanctuary cities,” but their outrage may conceal the panic of the political fallout if Trump goes through with it, as he should. Anyone remember the Mariel Boatlift in 1980? That’s when Fidel Castro declared that anyone who wanted to emigrate to the United States was free to do so within
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April 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The Democratic Party has come out against the rule of law and in favor of illegal immigration. Opposing open borders, Democrats say, is immoral. OK, fine–where are the tens of millions of people who would like to move here from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and so on going to go? Liberals imagine them inhabiting places where they don’t live. Flyoverland. I have a good friend and frequent email correspondent who has
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April 7, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Do you think illegal immigration is a serious problem? If you are like 67 percent of likely voters, you do. If you think illegal immigration is a very serious problem, you have plenty of company–47 percent of voters. Of course, if you are running for president as a Democrat, you don’t think illegal immigration is a problem at all. Eight percent of likely voters agree with you. Not only do
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April 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s an article of faith among white leftists that President Trump is a racist. He stands accused of being anti-Black and anti-Hispanic. But how do the alleged recipients of his animus view him? Poll numbers suggest that around half of Black voters consider Trump a racist. It remains to be seen whether those who don’t buy this narrative will enable Trump to make a dent in the pro-Democrat monolith that
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March 28, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Our current immigration law must be reformed to prevent the “refugee” scam exploited by those crossing illegally from Central America, but it’s not even under discussion. The needed reform is a legal wall that could be erected at no cost, but it is of course a nonstarter with the Democrats. For the Democrats, illegal immigration is a religion that rivals “climate change.” A reader who asks to remain anonymous writes
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March 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The House failed today to overturn President Trump’s first veto, leaving his declaration of a national emergency at the southwestern border intact. Both chambers of Congress passed a resolution nullifying the president’s order, but Trump vetoed the resolution and the veto could not be rendered ineffective without two-thirds of both chambers voting to override it. Opponents of the emergency declaration missed by about 40 votes in the House. The final
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March 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams was the liberal governor of Michigan throughout the 1950s. In 1961, President Kennedy named him Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. It seemed like a good fit for Williams, a longtime civil rights advocate. Williams generated controversy in his new job by declaring: “What we want for the Africans is what they want for themselves.” The press translated this as: “Africa for the Africans.” The
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March 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post is pleased as punch that the Senate passed a resolution to overturn President Trump’s national emergency declaration. It gloats (via a headline in the paper edition) that, for Trump, “making it about himself didn’t click with GOP Senators.” According to the Post, Trump’s lobbying effort against the resolution treated the vote “almost exclusively in personal terms.” No surprise there. That’s how Trump treats most things. But the
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March 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
A dozen Republicans joined Senate Democrats today to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southwestern border. The vote was 59-41. Trump promptly declared he would veto Congress’ action. With only 59 Senate votes against him, the veto will stick. The 12 Republicans who voted to overturn Trump’s declaration are: Mitt Romney Susan Collins Lamar Alexander Roy Blunt Mike Lee Jerry Moran Lisa Murkowski Rand Paul Rob
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March 13, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The news cycle is weird: something will be in the headlines for a while and then disappear. That doesn’t mean the problem has gone away, it just means editors and reporters have moved on to something else. Illegal immigration is like that. It is an enormous problem, imposing huge costs on taxpayers, destroying the fabric of countless American communities, straining public service resources across the country, driving down the wages
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March 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump will request from Congress at least $8.6 billion to build additional sections of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This money is in addition to the $1.3 billion Congress appropriated earlier this year and the approximately $7 billion Trump “appropriated” via his declaration of a national emergency at the border. Trump will seek the $8.6 billion as part of his proposed 2020 budget. The budget also calls for
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March 6, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Let’s start by acknowledging that in the past, we have, indeed, imported gang violence–the Sicilians are an obvious example. Still, that doesn’t make it a good idea. And shouldn’t we expect to learn from experience? The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports discreetly on a recent spasm of violence in Minneapolis: “East African community reeling from weekend violence, demands solutions.” Yeah? From whom? After the latest spasm of gang violence, Minneapolis’ Somali
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March 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I look forward to the CPAC conference every year because it brings John Hinderaker to town and we get together for dinner, along with his wonderful wife Loree. I don’t attend the conference and watch little of it on television. This year I saw only a portion of President Trump’s two-hour performance. I was struck, though, when I heard about some of the panels. First, let’s nominate Alex Azar for
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February 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Over the weekend, I linked to Jack Goldsmith’s article on President Trump’s use of national emergency power to come up with the money to build more border fencing. Goldsmith took no position at this early date on the legality of Trump’s move. However, his initial view is that hysteria over it is misplaced and that Trump’s legal position is plausible. John Yoo goes further. He finds that the law is
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February 16, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency and move funds around to pay for more wall building is certain to be challenged in court. The case almost surely will arrive at the Supreme Court. When it does, Trump may not have five votes. Chief Justice Roberts, and conceivably others among the five center-right Justices, may be quite skeptical of this use of executive power as, indeed, are a number
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