At Atlantic Elaine Godfrey pens what is actually a pretty thoughtful article on what Democrats mean when they say “Abolish ICE”. I think she’s being somewhat overly generous. When both the chairman of the DNC and the deputy chairman are calling for open borders, it isn’t much of a stretch to think that they mean that people should not be deported or subject to civil or criminal penalties for entering the country at other than an official entry point and without scrutiny.
“In any event, it appears that a commitment to immigrants’ rights—in whatever form that might take—will become a litmus test for Democratic candidates ahead of 2018. ”
Republicans’ dream come true.
When foreign terrorist in foreign lands are captured in battles on foreign soil are protected by Miranda, is it really that much of a stretch to assume that non-terrorists not fighting the US would be protected by the entire Bill of Rights?
What a wonderful world.
Any references for those guys calling for open borders? The only place I can find that is on right wing sites.
More broadly, I think the author is correct. There probably is a small group that wants to eliminate ICE and not replace it with anything, but most people are talking about changing it. Most people don’t want open borders either. Wanting a path to citizenship is not the same thing.
Steve
The Chicago Tribune isn’t a “right wing site” and Eric Zorn isn’t a right-winger. In fairness Zorn is trying to rebut the charge but in doing so he also substantiates it in this one instance. One is enough.
Tom Perez is a bit cagier. He’s said “no human being is illegal” and it’s on video. That he believes in legalizing entering the United States without scrutiny is a reasonable inference.
They either believe in open borders or want to convince people that they do. And they’re about as mainstream as it gets. And then there’s Luis Gutierrez who isn’t shy about expressing his belief in open borders. That’s just one of dozens of invocations.
I think that mainstream Democrats have an obligation to say what they mean when they join the call to get rid of ICE. I also think they’re trying to straddle—they don’t want to alienate open borders activists which in some communities is far from a fringe group.
I am pretty disappointed in you here. You want to make inferences since you don’t have any statements saying they support open borders. This, while you have the following in the very article you cite.
“The Times also noted that all 193 House Democrats have signed onto a proposal that “enhances technology used to monitor the border, and provides $110 million in grants annually for collaboration between local law enforcement and Border Patrol agents.â€
Or, the fact that every Democratic senator voted for 700 miles of border fencing and another $40 billion of border enforcement. No, that is outweighed by a couple of Democrats playing footsie with the small, but vocal, group that really does believe in open borders. (Remember how I specifically said Trump is not a Nazi, but he was perfectly willing to play footsie with them to garner votes, and that was such an awful thing to say?)
When all of the Dems keep voting for border enforcement and you can’t find prominent leaders, or even ones like the Alexandria woman, who say they support open borders, then it is probably that most Democrats don’t support them.
Steve