Originally published here on VDARE.com on this day in 2018.
Whatever he does or does not accomplish, the campaign and administration of President Donald Trump were invaluable because they revealed the true nature of America’s institutions. Thus former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and was once entrusted to defend and interpret it, proclaims in the New York Times America should abolish the Second Amendment. [John Paul Stevens: Repeal the Second Amendment, March 27, 2018]
Main Stream Media journalists are increasingly comfortable revealing they are simply activists and that journalism is just a tactic, not a profession [Mainstream Media Scream: Journalism cheered as ‘a form of activism,’ by Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, March 26, 2016]. And Democrats who used to at least lie that they supporting border security are increasingly bold about expressing their desire to abolish immigration law enforcement altogether [Abolishing ICE Looks Likely To Become 2020 Campaign Issue For Democrats, by Peter Hasson, Daily Caller, March 9, 2018].
As Steve Bannon accurately observed, the MSM is the real “opposition party,” with its pet Democratic politicians trailing in its wake. And MSM calls for ICE—U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—are multiplying.
For example, The Nation has published an article by activist Sean McElwee [Tweet him] flatly claiming ICE is incompatible with “democracy and human rights” and blaming its existence on, among others, us:
The central assumption of ICE in 2018 is that any undocumented immigrant is inherently a threat. In that way, ICE’s tactics are philosophically aligned with racist thinkers like Richard Spencer and the writers at the white-supremacist journal VDare.[It’s Time To Abolish ICE, March 9, 2018]
Leaving aside the “white supremacist” smear, what is true is that every illegal immigrant is inherently a criminal. Indeed, many of the “undocumented” have many documents, such as the illegal immigrant relatives of California Senate candidate Kevin de Leon, who brags about how his illegal immigrant relatives have phony identification. [Senate Leader: ‘Half Of My Family’ Eligible For Deportation Under Trump Order, CBS, February 6, 2017]
To abolish borders and border enforcement is to abolish the concept of self-government and independence altogether. Note that the way the Left uses the term “democracy” has nothing to do with people governing themselves. The Nation is using the term the same way Foreign Policy speaks about Poland. “Democracy” no longer refers to a government of citizens ruling themselves, but instead a government which rules in the interests of foreigners. Indeed, it’s actually preferable if that government is not accountable to the people, as with the unelected bureaucrats of the European Union or federal judges of the American system.
But The Nation is not an outlier. Thus columnist Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Inquirer proclaims, Abolishing ICE is the radical idea America needs to be talking about” [March 15, 2018]. Molly Roberts adds her voice in The Washington Post with “ICE deserves to be abolished” [March 13, 2018]. And Leftist political action committees, such as Brand New Congress, are now calling for the abolition of ICE (as well as for voting rights for illegals) [Immigration Platform Announcement, February 15, 2018].
Democrat mouthpiece Brian Fallon [Tweet him] is also calling for the end of ICE because it is a “deportation force.”
ICE operates as an unaccountable deportation force. Dems running in 2020 should campaign on ending the agency in its current form. https://t.co/hnK9LpPojV
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) January 21, 2018
Chris Hayes is using his platform at MSNBC to promote this idea as well.
This is a growing position on the left, and I imagine 2020 Democratic presidential aspirants will have to grapple with it https://t.co/GOuoLnBHWG
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 9, 2018
Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is currently being pressured by Leftist media outlets for actually daring to defend the existence of ICE. Jack Mirkinson at Splinter sneers: “Any serious defender of undocumented people in this country would look at ICE and know that it is a cancer that needs to be excised from the U.S.” [Not Good Enough, Kamala Harris, March 9, 2018]
In the short term, this crazy campaign actually works to the advantage of Republicans. It is one thing to criticize ICE for deporting illegals, like Kamala Harris, and another to advocate the wholesale abolition of immigration law enforcement. “[I]f the abolition of ICE becomes not just a left hobbyhorse but a core part of what progressives will ask of their candidates for 2020, that’s going to be a harder choice for Democratic politicians to make,” worries Dara Lind at Vox. [“Abolish ICE,” explained, March 19, 2018].
But it’s doubtful Democrats will be able to keep their Leftist activists in line. After all, from the progressive point of view, abolishing ICE makes perfect sense. As the slogan you will see at any Leftist protest tells you, “Immigrants Make America Great.” In other words, the Historic American Nation, the people who actually built the country and its institutions, is the real enemy who need to be disarmed, silenced, and eventually replaced by immigrants who can be reliably counted on to vote for Democrats and operate as docile clients of the welfare state.
As Scott Greer summarized Leftists’ viewpoint of immigration in the Daily Caller: “We can only be truly America if we welcome the stranger in our midst with no hesitation. The new arrivals are needed to replace the bad-old citizens, who are apparently less American than the immigrants who just arrived.”
Still, even in California, many actual Americans still want immigration law enforcement. In this bluest of blue states, there is already a local rebellion against the refusal to enforce immigration laws. Orange County may soon opt out of the Golden State’s “sanctuary state” policy [Orange County considers fighting California’s sanctuary state law, votes to opt out of policy, by Katelyn Caralle, Washington Examiner, March 27, 2018]. The sheriff of the county is defying the state by providing information about when prisoners are released from custody, including illegals who can then be deported by ICE [In response to California sanctuary law, Orange County Sheriff makes public inmates’ release dates, by Roxana Kopetman, The Orange County Register, March 27, 2018].
All of this is coming at a time when there is a renewed push to create the “State of Jefferson” and free Northern California from Sacramento [The Jefferson census, by Ryan Menezes and Iris Lee, Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2018]. There is also a push to create a “New California” which would contain not just the north, but the west of the state [‘New California’ and other US territories fighting to become the 51st state, by Jennifer Earl, Fox News, March 19, 2018]
What is happening in America is not just a breakdown of the rule of law, but a splintering of the institutions of government, as one group of elected officials and bureaucrats essentially tries to delegitimize another group. It’s like the late period of the Roman Republic, when one week’s legal sovereign was the next week’s proscribed outlaw.
America is fragmenting culturally and politically. It’s not surprising even core institutions such as ICE, the FBI, or the CIA are now seen as being as on one side or the other of the political divide.
Unfortunately, in the long term, time is on the side of the Left. Demography is destiny and mass immigration is continuing. Those conservatives who smirk that progressives are sabotaging themselves by embracing extreme ideas forget how quickly the Golden State went from the bedrock of the Reagan coalition to a post-American state [The Fall of California, by Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, March 6, 2018].
Republicans need to champion ICE and to stand up for the rights of local communities to protect the safety of their citizens by enforcing immigration laws. Even a Trump tweet in support of ICE, or the State of Jefferson, could have massive repercussions.
President Trump’s base is already in revolt over the omnibus bill and he needs to do something to keep his voters. Defending those who defend America would be a good start—and give the Republicans something to campaign on besides tax cuts.
But ultimately, of course, America needs an immigration moratorium.
