Obey the law? Not if it’s immigration

The prime directive for this blog is expressed in three words: Obey the law.

If everyone did that, we would be much happier, and we would need no police. That’s right — nothing to defund.

If everyone obeyed the law, this would be heaven.

But this is not heaven because people are people and some people are just lousy. And worse than a rash.

I don’t like law breakers, but I have grudging respect for those who admit to what they are. 

I really dislike crooks who say they are not, and their supporters and enablers.

And hypocrites.

On July 27, in an editorial critical of U.S. immigration policy,  the Philadelphia Inquirer referenced itself in this way: “For those of us who believe in the rule of law.”

Two days later it contradicted itself. In another editorial on the same subject, the Inquirer wrote, “the roundup, detention, and deportation of immigrants will join the list of shame.”

Its list of shame included the horrific World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, who had done nothing wrong; the enslavement of Africans, who had done nothing wrong; and the slaughter of Native Americans, who had done nothing wrong.

It took until the 22nd paragraph of the editorial for the Inquirer to admit that the immigrants being deported had done something wrong.

It seems the Inquirer does not think they should be punished. But when you don’t punish illegal immigration, you get more of it. And if more of it doesn’t bother you, then you don’t actually believe in the rule of law.

Remember “no one is above the law”? True, except when it comes to illegals. But it wasn’t always this way. Before Joe Biden, most leading Democrats condemned illegal entry.

It is not just the Inquirer’s position that is nettlesome, it is its loathsome descriptions of what is going on.

Example: Deportation is the latest example of Trump's “war on immigrants.”

Almost all enforcement is a war against illegal immigrants, a term the Inky has not used for two decades, along with most of the mainstream media, after it was banned by the AP.  I have complained about this before because it deliberately blurs the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. It  is actually dishonest. 

After the “war“ comment, the Inky added, “To be clear, regardless of what the administration has claimed, most detainees do not have criminal records.”

True.

Now, to be clear, anyone here illegally is subject to deportation. Period. They need not have broken another law.

To be clear, Trump promised to deport them all, a stance I disagree with, but that was what he said, almost daily.

He also said he’d start with the worst first, and that he has not done, but he is entirely within the law to deport illegals.

Many of his opponents pretend he said only the worst. He did not. He said all. 

To be clear, Trump might be able to deport more of the worst, but ICE efforts to arrest even foreign convicted felons are roadblocked by many Sanctuary Cities, such as Philadelphia. 

The Inquirer also was aghast about arrests of illegals “at warehouses, farms, and construction sites. No American should feel proud watching ICE raids.”

Hmmm. Don’t arrest them at the work place. Don’t arrest them in court. Don’t arrest them in church. Don’t arrest them in school. Don’t “kidnap” them off the streets. Where can ICE collar them?

It’s too bad the Philadelphia Daily News’ Chuck Stone has passed. He was famous for many things, one being that wanted men would surrender to him rather than Philadelphia police, whom they feared.

Maybe the Inquirer could get illegals to surrender to senior editor for commentary Sabrina Vourvoulias, the former managing editor of the Spanish language Al Dia. She was an obvious DEI hire who favors Open Borders, it seems from her writing.

[Full disclosure: She has called me a racist for my opposition to illegal immigration.] 

The Inquirer finds it cruel, inhumane and shameful that ICE would arrest “people just trying to get ahead and make a better life.”

What is unsaid is that these people cut the line, broke the law, and made fools of all the other people who wanted a better life and waited their turn.

“Trump has turned the country into a police state,” thundered the Inquirer, again blithely ignoring the fact that Trump and ICE are enforcing laws that were passed by Congress. 

Obey the law?

Not if you don’t like the law, says the Inquirer.

What about when ICE breaks the law? 

No surprise — I oppose that, too. Most recent on the issue of due process, to which everyone, even illegals, are entitled. 

What I find cruel is Trump’s withdrawing temporary visas, most shamefully from Afghan refugees. This includes thousands who worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. 

I also find cruel, if true, unsanitary conditions in lockups, holding facilities that the Inquirer likes to pretend are concentration camps (and which existed under Barack Obama and Joe Biden.) 

Surprise! Jails are not built for comfort. And these facilities are temporary, holding facilities for inmates who are being processed for repatriation, as I like to call it.

Before I leave dear Inky, just a few comments on Chicken Little bed-wetter Will Bunch, whose crystal ball reveals a national network of “concentration camps.”

His inflammatory words. (Before Trump’s first term, remember when the loons were saying concentration camps for liberals and gays would be built in red states?)

“Rounding up people based on their identity rather than their crimes,” is what Bunch sees. He is wrong. They are rounded up because of their status. Most are nonwhite because most of the illegals are nonwhite. That’s like learning most people in Athens are Greek.

Naturally Bunch references Nazi death camps, which shows just how looney he is, how awful, how wrong. 

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To be clear (to use that phrase again) the way Trump is going about the mass deportations has turned the majority against him. It was two-thirds in favor when it was an idea. In practice, it’s now 55% against because Americans don’t like the imagery of arrests and deportation. 

Note to MAGA: If you don’t like the above CNN poll, there are others to choose from. Including Fox News, which has very similar, but slightly lower numbers. The too-heavy hand has created blowback.

For the record, I have proposed a five-point alternative to mass deportations, that you can read here. 

I recommend it to the Inquirer.