Depending on who you believe, President Donald Trump and cooperative Republican officials, such as Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), have sent 1.6 million–1.4 million illegal immigrants back to their home countries since the start of this year. This is a strong start to reversing the unprecedented flood of 5.6 million illegal immigrants invited into the country by former President Joe Biden.
Now, however, Virginia’s Democratic nominee for governor, Abigail Spanberger, wants to reverse it again and undo the past half a year of progress. She helped enable the illegal immigrant invasion as a Congress member and now wants to prevent Virginia law officers from cooperating with federal officials to enforce immigration law. In an interview with the Virginia Mercury, Spanberger promised to rescind Youngkin’s Executive Order 47, which allows state police to work with the feds to enforce immigration law and encourages local jails to cooperate with federal deportation operations.
Spanberger told the outlet it would be a “waste of resources” to help federal agencies protect Virginians from illegal immigrants. She apparently thinks it was a waste of resources when Virginia officers worked with the FBI to capture MS-13 gang leader Henry Josue Villatoro Santos in Manassas. Presumably, Spanberger also believes it was a waste of resources when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took Honduran national Hyrum Baquedano Rodriguez into custody after prosecutors funded by George Soros refused to prosecute him for abduction of a person with intent to defile, and when they arrested a 35-year-old Mexican illegal immigrant who was charged with sex crimes against a Virginia child.
Youngkin’s Virginia Homeland Security Task Force has arrested more than 2,500 criminals as of July 1. Spanberger wants all of these illegal immigrants freed to steal, rape, and murder Virginians.
When Youngkin announced his “No Sanctuary Cities” budget proposal that requires local law officers to comply with ICE detainers and notify ICE 48 hours before releasing illegal immigrants who committed a crime, he said, “Virginia is not a sanctuary state, and we must be clear that we will not allow localities to become ‘sanctuary cities.’ If local governments turn their backs on their citizens in order to pander to pro-illegal immigrant groups, we will cut off their funding.”
Spanberger opposes this policy. She wants to turn Virginia into a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.
The contrast between Spanberger and her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, is stark.
“My father and I had to file documents and wait to be granted permission to enter the United States,” said Earle-Sears, who immigrated legally from Jamaica. “The rule of law is not negotiable — it is the foundation of our safety, our freedom, and the promise of opportunity that defines America.”
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S VIOLENT RHETORIC MUST END
Spanberger’s sanctuary state policies are not the only evidence that she is weak on immigration. She also voted against the Laken Riley Act, named for a Georgia nursing student killed by Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant. The law, which passed after Spanberger left Congress, requires federal authorities to detain immigrants accused of nonviolent crimes, such as theft and burglary, while their cases are processed.
Spanberger is comfortable with the Ibarras of the world walking free while committing minor crimes, such as shoplifting and driving under the influence of drugs, before they graduate to rape and murder. But most Americans are not. When an illegal immigrant commits any crime, such as speeding or driving without a license, local law officers should report them to federal authorities immediately. Unfortunately, Spanberg wants these criminal illegal immigrants to go free.