We are at the outset of a massive war of political wills over immigration enforcement. The Left will try to make a cause of every sympathetic person who is caught up in enhanced enforcement (or even routine enforcement). We saw this last week in the case of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos. On the one hand, she has been here for more than 20 years and has a family and is no one’s idea of a gangster, making her an ideal example for how enforcement is allegedly unjust. On the other hand, she was convicted of a felony for using someone else’s Social Security number and has had a deportation order against her since 2013. There are about a million people with such orders who aren’t in custody, and if they aren’t going to be subject to deportation, it entails simply disregarding extensive proceedings in the immigration courts.
Stephen Miller was good on this Sunday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
We’ve been lectured all week long about respecting the rulings of the judiciary. And yet, in the last 24 hours, we’re being asked about whether or not we should respect the rulings of judiciary after final orders of removal have been issued, after all the immigration appeals boards have had their say, after the immigration lawyers and immigration judges have had their say.
Then they’re saying well, there’s a million people in our country who have final orders of removal and we, as the White House, should ignore that judicial proceeding.
You can’t have it both ways. You either respect the rulings of the court or you don’t.