Trump makes immigration top midterm campaign issue, hoping to put Dems on ICE
Trump makes immigration top midterm campaign issue, hoping to put Dems on ICE
by W. James Antle III
| August 21, 2018 12:00 AM
Washington Examiner
President Trump believes the Democrats are vulnerable on immigration and crime ahead of the midterm elections, so he keeps highlighting those issues in the run-up to November.
You can see it in presidential tweets endorsing or opposing candidates. The Democrats are invariably “weak on borders” and crime while his preferred Republican is “strong.” Trump has even called House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., an “MS-13 lover.” It was true again at the White House on Monday where he showered federal immigration authorities with praise.
“Blue wave means crime. It means open borders. Not good,” Trump said of potential Democratic victories in the fall. The president held the event as he and other Republicans try to capitalize on Democratic calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We will not stand for the vile smears, the hateful attacks, and the vicious assaults on the courageous men and women of ICE, and Border Patrol, and law enforcement,” Trump declared. “We will protect those who protect us.”
“Hell, he has got to make sure at least one federal agency is on his side,” said former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a veteran of the immigration battles of the 1990s and 2000s.
“The Democrats have positioned themselves to be anti-ICE and pro-open borders,” said John Feehery, a Republican strategist. “I think that is a losing issue for them and clearly so does the president, which is why he is pounding away at it.”
Anti-ICE sentiment spiked during the controversy over family separations at the border, viewed as a symbol of Trump’s harsh immigration stance. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upset rising Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., in a primary in part by characterizing ICE as an out-of-control law enforcement agency she would jettison.
Viral news stories cast ICE in an unfavorable light, such as one showing a father being apprehended and detained while trying to drive his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth. Though highlighted by Democratic politicians, including some possible 2020 presidential candidates, subsequent reports suggested the man may have been wanted for murder.
“The Democrats were rushing to defend a guy who was accused of murder in Mexico,” Feehery said. “Defending accused Mexican murderers is no way to win the hearts and minds of Middle America.”
"When an elected official says they want to get rid of ICE or the CBP, I think they’ve failed their oath of office," Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said at a White House event. "It’s unconscionable and frankly, I think it’s downright unpatriotic."
Trump and congressional Republicans quickly seized on the issue, especially after a Morning Consult/Politico poll found that just 25 percent of voters wanted to see ICE abolished. House Republicans brought a pro-ICE resolution up for a vote to dare Democrats to vote against it — just 34 did, though 133 voted “present” — while Trump brings it up often on the campaign trail.
“And then I hear Democrats saying, 'We want to abandon ICE.' We're not abandoning ICE and we're not abandoning our law enforcement,” Trump said while campaigning for Patrick Morrisey, the Republican challenger to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. “Just the opposite.”
For red-state Democrats like Manchin, who are up for re-election this year in places where Trump remains popular, ICE abolition talk is a political liability. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., is among those who has broken from progressives on ICE.
"Many Democrats are deeply concerned about the fact that their 'leadership' wants to denounce and abandon the great men and women of ICE, thereby declaring war on Law & Order," Trump tweeted. "These people will be voting for Republicans in November and, in many cases, joining the Republican Party!"
The White House circulated a Department of Homeland Security fact sheet defending ICE’s “life-saving mission” on Monday, touting some of the following figures: 127,000 arrests “with convictions or pending criminal charges,” including more than 48,000 sexual assault offenses, 11,000 weapons offenses, 5,000 sexual assaults, 2,000 kidnappings, and 1,800 homicides.
This push is not good enough for immigration hawks who were expecting more from Trump. "The failure to end Obama's DACA amnesty and the unfulfilled border wall promise, combined with our Republican-led Congress focusing on amnesty compromise legislation this past year, has created a lot of confusion, disappointment, and remorse among significant segments of Republican base voters," said William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.
At the same time, immigration could backfire on Trump in some of the suburban congressional districts Democrats are targeting in their efforts to retake the House. Some polling has started to show ICE sentiment splitting along partisan lines. Many Republicans had hoped to run on tax cuts and the economy rather than hot-button cultural topics.
“Midterm elections are all about turnout and Trump is doing whatever he can to fire up his base,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant. “Having a debate about disbanding ICE is net positive for Trump, especially in red states. The risk is that a lot of Republicans in swing districts need independents to win, and you don't want to turn off those voters by appearing anti-immigrant. Immigration politics are always complex.”
Trump nevertheless plunges full speed ahead, decrying the “new wave of anti-borders, anti-law enforcement extremism” being promoted by “the forces of anarchy and chaos and crime.”
“They don’t mind crime,” Trump said of the Democrats. “It’s pretty sad.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...mocrats-on-ice
