Ever since Joe Biden started talking to Republicans about potentially strengthening security on the southern border, the response from Democrats has been mixed at best. Some have openly opposed any changes while others have begun looking at some legislative changes that might make that possible without going “too far.” But now, NBC News is reporting that some Senate Democrats are in negotiations to advance the next traunch of aid to Ukraine while locking down the border a bit more, but they want a “safety valve” to be included that would prevent abuse of executive power in that regard. Of course, they’re talking about Donald Trump without saying his name, but that’s clearly what this legislation would be intended to do.
Senators negotiating new U.S. immigration restrictions as part of a deal to advance Ukraine aid are exploring ways to prevent a future president from abusing some of the executive powers on the table to control the number of migrants seeking asylum, two sources with knowledge of the talks said.
One source said Democrats want a “safety valve” in the new policies to avoid cruelty and mass roundups that could someday be applied far beyond the goal of controlling the border. They’re conscious that enhanced powers without limits may backfire in case former President Donald Trump — or someone with similar attitudes on immigration — gets elected.
It’s the subject of some key sticking points as Republicans demand more expansive powers for the president to crack down on a border situation they describe as uncontrolled and chaotic.
This coverage is probably even more hilarious than the underlying angle that the Democrats are taking. They claim that want to prevent any “cruelty and mass roundups” of illegals. Presumably, they believe that enforcing the laws that they passed is somehow cruel. NBC also blames the Republicans for saying that the situation at the border is “uncontrolled and chaotic.” Well… how would you describe it? Have you seen what’s going on at the border?
The details are still being worked out, but many of the stated goals on both sides seem rather confusing. The Senate GOP wants to “expand the President’s power to close the border.” The Democrats are fretting over what someone like Trump would do with that power while they “aren’t worried about President Joe Biden abusing that power.” The President already has the power to close the border as required. In fact, the border is always supposed to be closed except for access by authorized persons. Congress is supposed to make the laws and the executive branch is supposed to enforce them. Keeping the border secure is part of that enforcement responsibility. This is fairly basic stuff and it doesn’t seem like all of the senators understand that.
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The same Senate Democrats have reportedly drawn another “red line” on this issue. They say they are open to expedited powers to turn away more migrants who arrive at the border, but they are not willing to consider the removal of illegal aliens who are already in the country. That’s a preposterous position to take. They clearly seem to believe that the millions upon millions of illegals that Biden has already allowed into the country and released now have a right to remain here in perpetuity. They do not. They are in the country illegally, they violated our laws, and they are eligible for removal. Of course, this was almost undoubtedly their plan all along. Flood the country with aliens and eventually figure out a way to give them citizenship with the expectation that most of them would register as Democrats. None of this happened accidentally.
Here’s Senator Alex Padilla of California (D) and Chris Murphy of Connecticut warning the world about handing Trump the power to expedite deportations:
“Expanded nationwide expedited removal is an incredibly dangerous tool that, if willingly handed over in these negotiations, could be easily abused by a future Trump administration to target political opponents and critics,” Padilla said…
“As the Article I branch, we should always have an interest in not outsourcing too much authority to the Article II branch, as a matter of principle,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the party’s lead negotiator on the issue, told NBC News.
This is a bunch of malarkey, as the current Oval Office resident would say. If Congress wants to change the way deportations and asylum are handled they need to get together and change the laws. The way things are handled currently is in keeping with existing immigration laws. If they can’t find the votes to pass new legislation, that’s not the President’s problem. (Not this president nor any yet to come.) Have any of these people actually read the constitution that they keep jabbering on about? It doesn’t sound like it.
