There’s no denying that one of the primary reasons Donald Trump won in 2016 was his repeated promise to fix the illegal immigration problem.
When he first made his announcement to run for President, Trump promised to “build a great, great wall on our southern border” and “have Mexico pay for it.”
“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall.”
During his 2016 campaign, Trump’s list of things he would do in the first 100 days included a promise to “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum, and [executive order] issued by Obama.” One of the orders that would fall under this promise is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
As we now know in retrospect, such promises were simply the braggadocious blusterings of a bloviating blowhard; in other words, he lied. There is no great, great wall; there’s not even a mediocre one. And even though Trump allegedly rescinded DACA via executive order last year, he did so in-name-only because it allowed Congress extra time to make it permanent.
By the way, despite rhetoric to the contrary, Trump and the GOP have solidified the status quo concerning the illegal immigration issue by financing it in every spending bill they’ve made into law, including the recent #MiniBusBetrayal.
No money for the wall.
No money for ICE.
Obamacare funded.
Planned Parenthood funded.
DACA funded.
Refugee Resettlement funded.
Sanctuary cities funded.
Massive debt.
Massive deficit.
98% of Democrats voted YEA.#MinibusBetrayal#MAGA https://t.co/lSG7RgySny— Shannon Joy (@ShannonJoyRadio) September 28, 2018
With the election less than a week away and with the chances of the GOP maintaining its majority in Congress going dim, Trump has been frantically spreading the politics of distraction to shift voter attention away from his failures.
Trump has already indicated that he will work with Democrats after the election — as if he’ll have a choice — to save DACA in exchange for a few dollars to pay for his wall, an idea that has received support from Republicans in the Senate and the House.
But with his approval numbers still near historic lows and with a possible Blue Tsunami on the horizon, Trump is pulling out all the stops to make it look like he’s keeping his promise to fix illegal immigration.
Yesterday, we learned that Trump recently stated in an interview with Axios that he will end the practice of birthright citizenship, using one of Barack Obama’s favorite tools when skirting the Constitution … the executive order.
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t.
“”You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order. We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States … with all of those benefits.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end. I didn’t think anybody knew that but me. I thought I was the only one.”
Even before Trump was officially a part of the picture, we at The Strident Conservative supported the end of birthright citizenship practices. And experts like Daniel Horowitz at Conservative Review believe that the current interpretation of the citizenship clause in the Fourteenth Amendment is unconstitutional — the same amendment being used to defend the practice.
But is a constitutionally questionable executive order the right way to fix it? Didn’t we get our fill of this kind of executive overreach and abuse with Obama? Besides, anything done by an executive order can be undone by an executive order from a future, most likely Democrat, president.
Some GOP members of Congress are speaking out in opposition to Trump’s proposal, but I’m of the opinion that they’re only doing so to continue feeding the distraction.
Birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens is a real problem, but Obama-styled executive orders aren’t a real solution. Trump is throwing this immigration mud at the election year wall to see what sticks, but he’s only reminding America that he and the GOP have been lying about fixing the illegal immigration problem all along.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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