Woke 1 may have been crazy, but Woke 2 is shaping up to be even crazier.
Last week, at its summer meeting in Austin, Texas, the Democratic National Committee’s Resolutions Committee approved a resolution calling on Democrats in Congress to draft legislation that would “abolish” Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Previous versions had called only for its reform.
The resolution was introduced by Louisiana DNC committeewoman Michele Johnson, who is a member of the New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America. It has long been the DSA’s position that ICE should be abolished and that all illegal immigrants should be given amnesty and citizenship.
As New York DSA congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier has explained, “all deportation is wrong,” because “a world without borders — just like a world without prisons or police — is possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward.”
Past DNC resolutions had called on Democrats to “replace” ICE. But as the DSA has won more primaries, it is pulling DNC committeemen and committeewomen toward a full embrace of open borders.
“I am fully aware that this body has passed resolutions reforming ICE, I voted for them,” Texas DNC committeeman Jeff Strater said after the vote. “But I’m also here today to vote in alignment with my state Democratic Party.”
An amendment that would have changed the word “abolishing” to “completely restructuring” in the resolution was withdrawn. The final motion passed on a 25-12 vote.
The DNC’s embrace of the DSA’s abolitionist position is not surprising, considering how far Democrats have gone to stop ICE from doing its job. Over a dozen states run by Democrats have passed laws forbidding local law enforcement from participating in ICE’s 287(g) program, which allows specially trained local officers to work with ICE to identify and process illegal immigrants who have already come into contact with the criminal justice system.
The 287(g) program is a commonsense law enforcement tool that makes communities safer by allowing dangerous criminal offenders to be transferred directly to federal custody instead of being released onto the street, where ICE agents must later find and arrest them. For local police departments that want ICE’s help getting criminal illegal immigrants out of their communities, 287(g) is the kind of federal-local partnership Washington should encourage, not prohibit.
But Democrats do not want any illegal immigrants deported, even criminals.
Some supposed centrists, such as Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), talk a good game about trying to secure the border, but when pressed on what should be done about illegal immigrants who make it into the country, he declines to say any should be deported, instead concluding, “There ought to be a path towards legality.” In other words, amnesty.
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That is why border security without interior enforcement is meaningless. Even a perfectly secured southern border would do nothing about illegal immigrants living inside the country, nor stop people who enter legally and refuse to leave when their visas expire. More than half of the illegal immigrants now in the country first entered legally.
DSA candidates taking over the Democratic Party are not subtle. When the Democratic National Committee passes a resolution calling for an end to domestic immigration enforcement by abolishing ICE, voters should believe them.