Recently, several high profile immigration arrests have been made, only to have the charges dropped later. In these cases, the charge of human smuggling has sometimes been applied too broadly to include driving in a car with illegal aliens or sending money to family members who used the funds to cross the border illegally.
Although these charges may not always be justified, they shouldn’t be used as an excuse to not crack down on human smuggling and illegal immigration more broadly. Most Border Patrol and ICE agents aren’t investigators or judges, nor do agents have the resources and time to investigate every situation before arresting an illegal alien and pursuing charges.
With over 144,000 undocumented aliens crossing into the United States in the last month alone, the immigration system and detention facilities are overwhelmed, underfunded, and understaffed. Nevertheless, facilities used to process immigrants have repeatedly been denied the funds they desperately need.
Additionally, Border Patrol agents are often having to provide childcare services instead of focusing on their primary job of apprehending those attempting to illegally enter the United States. To compound the issue, there are too few asylum claims investigators, processors, and judges to decide on cases promptly. With no place to house additional immigrants, illegal aliens are being increasingly released into the community, often refusing to appear on their designated court date.
Detention facilities are overcrowded and poorly supplied, creating conditions that aren’t ideal. Yet, when attempts to better the circumstances are made, including the recent purchase of $200,000 worth of beds from Wayfair, Democratic lawmakers and activists call for a boycott of Wayfair, claiming that they shouldn’t be supplying beds for so-called “concentration camps” that cage children. Democrats criticize detention facilities for children sleeping on floors, but when beds are purchased for the children to sleep in, Democrats pivot to denouncing the beds as well.
If the slippery slope of Democratic logic were applied to all goods and services purchased by detention facilities, then all companies who supply food, water, electricity, diapers, toiletries, cleaning supplies, building materials, sanitation equipment, and other necessities should also be boycotted. If essentials aren’t available because of threatened boycotts, then conditions worsen for both the workers and the immigrants.
Democrats want detention facilities closed, however, without detention facilities to house illegal immigrants, Border Patrol would have no place to keep even a fraction of the number of asylum-seekers and other prospective immigrants until a judge could hear their cases.
Without the ability to hold even a small portion of the illegal immigrants, the United States would effectively have a completely open border. But isn’t that precisely what the Democrats want?
