Battle lines drawn over immigration
The divide over immigration policies has widened along political lines and become more heated heading into the midterm elections.
Last week, the monthlong missing person search involving Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts ended horribly when Christhian Rivera, an immigrant who entered the U.S. illegally, was charged with her murder. Because this case was so seared in the national consciousness, the liberal media couldn’t ignore the story, even though it gave the president and Republicans fresh ammunition in the illegal immigration debate.
There’s little doubt that the mainstream media has been leaning left in its coverage of illegal immigration.
Earlier in the week, liberal news outlets hyped a report about a California man being detained by U.S. immigration officials while rushing his wife to the hospital for the birth of their fifth child.
This played strongly to the left’s narrative that ICE was a rogue agency that terrorized immigrant communities by using strong-arm tactics to divide families. It also gave the press a chance to attack the administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policies.
A short time later more information came out. The suspect, Joel Arrona-Lara, was brought to ICE’s attention due to an outstanding warrant issued for his arrest in Mexico on homicide charges. The fact that he was a murder suspect was conveniently hidden or buried by the liberal press, which looked foolish and biased for running with a story without properly investigating the suspect and informing the public.
ICE agents have had targets on their backs since the Trump administration made illegal immigration a priority.
In June, Antifa, a violent, so-called anti-fascist group, tweeted out a list of more than 1,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ identities. The originator explained that he created the database in response to ICE’s “inhumane” efforts in on the border.
While ICE has a strong ally in President Trump, liberals have been lining up in opposition. Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, who has been working on legislation to eliminate ICE, has called ICE Trump’s “own political police force.”
And Maria Svart, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America, said the organization is ready to “apply pressure wherever possible to lift up the narrative that ICE is horrific, has no place in our communities and needs to be abolished.”
A week ago, the president honored the men and women working for Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stating that our nation will never surrender to the forces of anarchy and chaos and crime.
“Everyone here today understands a vital truth: that America is a land of opportunity because we are a nation of laws. For America to be a strong nation, we must have strong borders,” Trump stated.
“You are the patriots and you are the heroes. You are the fighters and you are the warriors for justice.”
The president said we can’t allow our communities to be consumed by deadly poisons (illegal drugs) and violent predators.
“The poisons are flowing across our border, and we’re hitting it from every angle,” he said. “But we need new laws. We need border laws. We need immigration laws. We need them fast.”
The president’s points should be common ground to spur all sides in the immigration debate to action.
By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com
Comments
As for the "liberals" who come out in protest against ICE? They are undocumented idiots who have been unemployed since OWS... Oh... they're too stoned to vote.
We Conservative Patriots do not subscribe to the ways of Saul Alinsky, as the left so often demonstrates. I speak of page 89 (Rules for Radicals), in the section marked communication "in the arena of action, a threat or a crisis becomes almost a precondition to communication".
In other words, the promotional lead quickly organizes a mob along the lines of a crisis subject and uses that crisis to force the need for control. You, and all the rest of the "Useful Idiots", quickly latch on to the rhetoric, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Looking ahead, I will say with certainty, "Lookback" is on the wrong side of history.
God Bless
And the timing of Mollie Tibbetts’ murder was perfect. It helped distract us from the spectacle of the Trump crime family members who were headed to prison or taking immunity deals last week. The only thing missing was that Mollie wasn’t blonde and I’m surprised Fox News didn’t Photoshop her image to correct that deficiency. (Mollie’s family, by the way, have forcefully condemned Trump and others for attempting to politicize their daughter’s murder.)
I seem to have missed reading of Mr. Zbick’s outrage at the brutal attack last month on two teenage girls at an Oakland train station. You’ll recall that eighteen-year-old Nia Wilson died in the unprovoked attack and her younger sister was critically wounded after both girls had their throats slashed. I think I may know why: the victims were African-American and their assailant a home-grown white guy. That doesn’t fit into Zbick’s narrative at all.
The fact remains that a woman out jogging is many times more likely to be murdered or raped by a home-grown, white, Trump-loving good old boy than by an immigrant, undocumented or not. As studies repeatedly show, immigrants – especially the undocumented - have a significantly lower crime rate than their U.S.-born peers. Mr. Zbick ignores that inconvenient fact because, like the President he worships, his xenophobia and racism keep getting in the way.
Put down your syringe, and back away from the keyboard.
"home-grown, white, Trump-loving good old boy" ? What?
Why do you have such an allegiance to illegal aliens?
Oh... How could a guy who marries a gal from Slovenia, be labeled a xenophobe?
As for the rest of your post... lay of the drugs.
Suspected MS-13 gang member breaks into apartment, rapes 11-year-old NYC girl while she’s sleeping.
The suspect was identified as El Salvadoran immigrant Julio Cesar Ayala, 18, did have a green card. How would you feel if this El Salvadoran would have chose this for one of your loved ones Steve? hello?
A teenage boy who was living at the New Mexico compound where five Islamic radicals are accused of abusing a dozen children revealed in court his mother’s boyfriend was training him to carry out “jihad,” That means killing people. But that's OK with you.... right? Steve?