FILE – In this May 25, 2010 file photo, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent walks down the aisle among shackled Mexican immigrants a boarded a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter jet for deportation in the air between Chicago, Il. and Harlingen, Texas. A Homeland Security Department internal watchdog says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have saved millions of dollars on charter flights carrying deported immigrants to their home countries by not leaving seats empty. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
When the smartest minds in California are this ignorant of the laws…
Kamala Harris is having a tough week. She was shown to be lying over the Michael Brown anniversary, was challenged and embarrassed by a nursing-home denizen, and her campaign is struggling mightily it seems in getting donations to keep it afloat. Now she has weighed in on another Trump proposal, and it only adds to her dysphoria.
The latest policy initiative to get the Dems in a dander is to instill a hardline restriction on the number of federal benefits immigrants can retain. It is an effort to get these residents off of government dependency and have them actually become a contributing member of the society that sought out to join. There is some confusion with the angry reactions from Democrats on the issue.
One of their prevailing arguments of late has been that immigrants are workers who actually provide net gains for the country by arriving. Now when the administration has announced they are holding firm on these built-in restrictions the Democrats are singing not only a different tune but one in a completely different genre. The new claim is immigrants will now be forced off of certain vital needs, which were previously claimed to be met with their positive-net work economic influence. It is outrage du jour.
In a mostly scathing article on the policy Think Progress detailed all of the negatives this would have on the immigrant community. The outlet quoted the National Immigration Law Center: “This news is a cruel new step toward weaponizing programs that are intended to help people by making them, instead, a means of separating families and sending immigrants and communities of color one message: you are not welcome here.”
Kamala has come forward to of course label this policy as the latest proof of Donald Trump’s racism.
Trump's latest crackdown on immigration is part of his ongoing campaign to vilify a whole group of people. It's indefensible. No family should live in fear of feeding, housing, or caring for their kids. pic.twitter.com/hDpU7cmTyD
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 12, 2019
California Governor Gavin Newsom has also vilified Trump over this enforcement. He invoked the need of these programs for their “basic survival”, in direct opposition to the claims they are contributing members to our society. Of course, for Newsom to say this brings up all of the lack of assistance he has been able to provide for the mounting homelessness problem sweeping his state. That is — actual citizens of this country.
Trump’s now punishing immigrants who are here —LEGALLY— forcing them to choose between food, housing, medical care or legal status.
Locking kids in cages, separating families—and now cutting people off from programs they rely on for basic survival…it’s sick. We cannot allow it https://t.co/g24omx3EDl
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 12, 2019
All of these players — Harris, Newsom, immigration policy centers — have done one of two things here; displayed their arrogant ignorance, or they are outright lying. Neither is a positive. What the Trump administration is doing here is not instituting some new executive order — they are merely enforcing standing immigration law. This particular legislation has been made to see to it that those arriving to this country are doing so with the goal of assimilation and contribution.
And this has been the case for decades. Harris and Newsom are displaying rampant obliviousness about something that was passed in 1996, signed into law by William Jefferson Clinton. With Newsom this is hardly a surprise. He has shown a particular contempt for many federal guidelines on immigration, from establishing sanctuary cities to refusing to work with immigration officials and vilifying ICE. Whether unaware or hostile to this law, it is right in line with his character.
For Kamala, in particular, this is a bad look. As former Attorney General of California, she should be apprised of this type of legislation. She refers to Trump being ignorant of the history, yet here she is displaying rampant ignorance about federal law, and one pertaining to her home state. For a candidate trying to lay claim to the White House this becomes just another troubling component to her campaign.
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