Opinion

HARVEY: Democrats Are The Wrong Messengers On Immigration — In Nevada And Everywhere Else

Ted Harvey Chairman, Committee to Defend the President
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On the eve of the Nevada caucuses, immigration is taking center stage. After all, nearly 20 percent of Nevadans (560,000 people) are immigrants — 40 percent of them from Mexico.

And the Democratic candidates know it, scrambling to position themselves as champions of the immigrant community. In recent days, Democrats have made overtures to immigrants legal and illegal alike, all in an attempt to court Hispanic voters. Sen. Amy Klobuchar recently took a “strong position” against recognizing English as America’s national language, vowing to “embrace immigrants” — as if the two are mutually exclusive. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, suggested Border Patrol agents are “unnecessary, unwelcome, and dangerous.”

Apparently, anything goes when pandering for votes. If only the Democrats were as committed to championing American interests — you know, those of actual American citizens.

Worse yet, today’s Democratic Party has no leg to stand on when it comes to “embracing immigrants,” considering the policies of the Obama administration. Lest we forget that President Obama (and Joe Biden) oversaw three million deportations during his tenure.

And, under the Obama administration’s watch, unaccompanied children were indeed held in cages. The pictures are everywhere, and despite the efforts of the left-leaning mainstream media to rewrite history, that policy most certainly predates the Trump administration.

So Nevadans are now supposed to believe Democrats are suddenly the party of “tolerance” and “compassion?” After years of witnessing the exact opposite? The hypocrisy is so obvious that even Biden recently claimed President Obama’s mass deportation policy “was a big mistake.”

But he missed the point entirely. Let’s be clear: Strong border security is never a mistake. The federal government has a duty to tackle illegal immigration and reward those immigrants who respect the law by waiting in line. Otherwise, the United States cannot truly be a sovereign and independent nation. Law-breakers need to be treated as such, and an aggressive deportation policy must be enforced.

Still, that aside, the point is that Democrats are America’s least credible messengers on immigration. While they talk “compassion” and “tolerance,” they walk the opposite walk. It has become impossible for American voters — in Nevada and across the county — to take Democrats seriously when their actions don’t match their blatantly hypocritical talking points.

Will Joe Biden’s sudden flip-flop — years after the fact — change that? Of course not.

As the Nevada caucuses draw nearer, one thing has become clear: The only trustworthy and serious messenger on immigration is President Trump — because he keeps his promises. In 2016, President Trump promised border security, and that’s exactly what he’s focusing on while in office. He promised to reduce illegal immigration, and that’s what happened. Since May, the total number of Southwest border apprehensions has dipped from 132,856 to 50,684 — a 62 percent drop. In other words, illegal immigration is down by nearly two-thirds in recent months.

At the same time, President Trump remains committed to building the wall. His administration is on track to build more than 450 miles of border wall within the year. That’s right: 450 milesAs Jared Kushner recently put it, “That was a promise, and it’s important that it’s now being accomplished.”

But that simply isn’t the mantra of the Democratic Party. Rather than keeping their promises, today’s Democrats choose to campaign one way and govern another. And that’s why they’ll lose in 2020.

Yes, President Trump is dedicated to border security, which propelled him to victory in 2016 and remains popular among most Americans. But, even more importantly, President Trump’s name is now synonymous with trust. With him, American voters know they won’t be surprised once the campaigning stops and the governing begins. He’ll only double down on his promises, until they’re kept.

There is no more powerful message in politics than that — trust. Especially when the alternative is hypocrisy, trust becomes everything. And it will make President Trump a winner on Election Day.

Ted Harvey serves as chairman of the Committee to Defend the President.