Tony Perkins' Washington Update
July 13, 2018
Sometimes, the stories out of D.C. just write themselves. After making the entire summer about ending immigration enforcement, Democrats finally have the chance to vote on it. There's just one problem: they don't want to. When Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) agreed to put their bill closing the office of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the floor, liberals panicked. About that whole "abolishing ICE" thing, their messaging seemed to say, just kidding.
The headlines only made a bad PR situation worse. "Dems Say They'll Vote No on Their 'Abolish ICE' legislation," the Hill reported. For the GOP, it's a perfect opportunity to expose the other side's insincerity on the border crisis. When push comes to shove, even they don't believe in the immigration "solutions" they're offering. "Democrats have been trying to make July... about abolishing ICE, which is a radical, extreme position that would lead to open borders and undermine America's national security," House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said. That may explain why, when the time has come to defend their legislation, they can't.
Speaker Ryan, who still plans on calling the Left's bluff with a vote on ICE, could only shake his head. "It's the craziest position I've ever seen," he said. "They're just tripping over themselves to move too far to the Left. They are out of the mainstream of America..." And, maybe more importantly, out of the mainstream of their own party. According to Politico, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is "fuming over the liberal move to eliminate the agency," arguing that it distracts from the real solutions Americans are looking for.
Despite all of the backlash, the bill's sponsors -- Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) -- are still trying to convince people that their bill wasn't a political stunt (a tall task since they all "plan to vote no"). In one of the more hilarious soundbites of the day, the trio said, "We look forward to the day that we have meaningful action on the issues covered by our bill." What do they think a vote on their legislation is? It doesn't get more "meaningful" than that.
But for a party desperate to win back congressional control, fanning the flames of its radical wing are one thing – winning elections with fruitcake policies is another. Based on the latest polling, these Democrats are risking plenty with a rallying cry at odds with the majority of voters. It's pretty obvious why the party doesn't want a vote on their bill. While it's been a great stunt that's kept their agitators employed, according to Politico, only 25 percent of Americans side with the call to end ICE. Inside the party, their idea is just as unpopular. "I think you're assuming the Democratic Caucus isn't together on this," Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) argued with reporters. They'd be assuming right. Sixty percent of Democrats (and three-in-four swing voters) agree that we should keep ICE. Even Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Democrats' ranking member of the U.S. Senate, isn't on board. "No American likes the separation of children... but ICE does do some things that are very important."
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) spelled out some of them. "Think about what ICE is able to do. Just in the last year, more than 900 children were saved from human trafficking. Think of the thousands of pounds of drugs [that's been stopped]..." And ICE's importance isn't limited to immigration. It's also the main law enforcement agency focusing on terrorism, as Heritage's David Inserra points out. Do we really want America overrun with drugs, rapists, traffickers, and gangs like the MS-13 factions that are ripping apart public high schools?
To understand where a world without ICE would lead, read this column from the Washington Post about an area school where kids are so terrified to go to school that they bring their parents in with them. A world where teenagers come home with warning bullets in their hoodies. Or where a trip to the bathroom could mean a trip to the hospital because you've been beaten almost to death. Or where the path home takes you past trees blackened by fire or gashed from knife practice. Where girls are raped by gangs, but afraid they'll be killed if they report it. In other words, a ticking time-bomb.
The other side is playing politics while a very real crisis explodes. We don't need grandstanding, we need solutions. And how serious is the other side about finding them? Based on this bill, not very.
Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
Dems Have a Meltdown over ICE
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