02/12/2023
Two powerful U.S. House committees, the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight Committee, held little-reported hearings on immigration last week and Democrats were livid. Both hearings focused on the illegal-alien invasion and highlighted the massive drug trafficking and stretched resources of Border Patrol. Democrats found that outrageous and denounced Republicans with gross but customary hyperbole. This demonstrates just how extreme the party has become on immigration. They don’t see any problem at the border at all. Many even think President Biden is too harsh on immigrants. They simply want Open Borders and will oppose any serious efforts to curtail the invasion.
Both hearings focused on reasonable topics. The Judiciary Committee, chaired by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, examined the connection between immigration and drug trafficking. Jordan accused the Biden Regime of intentionally opening the border. “We all heard [Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas, who sat in front of this committee and said, ‘we are executing our plan on the border.’ And we all heard President Biden say, ‘we’re trying to make it easier for people to get here.’ Well, they’re certainly succeeding in that,” Jordan said. Other Republican committee members echoed him [House GOP spotlights border security inhearing, resolution, by Suzanne Monyak, Roll Call, February 1, 2023].
Hello from the (fairly packed) House Judiciary hearing, titled “The Biden Border Crisis — Part One.” Witnesses include founder of a nonprofit against fentanyl addiction, a Texas county judge, and an Ariz sheriff pic.twitter.com/6GTVW0ub9u
— Suzanne Monyak (@SuzanneMonyak) February 1, 2023
Rep. Jordan highlighted the personal cost of immigration by inviting two local border officials — Cochise County (Arizona) Sheriff Mark Dannels and Terrell County (Texas) Judge Dale Lynn Carruthers — and a father whose son died of a fentanyl overdose. Daniels described the border as “the worst I’ve seen it,” and declared it as the “largest crime scene in this country.” But Democrats said the guests were beyond the pale. “The fact that Daniels and Carruthers have engaged in this racist rhetoric about immigrants and their ties to hate and other extremist groups disqualify them from any productive discussions on things related to immigration,” squealed former $PLC hitwoman Heidi Beirich, now chief strategy officer for the Global Project Against Hate And Extremism [Partisan rift widens on immigration policy, as seen in two House hearings, by Rafael Bernal and Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, February 8, 2023].
California Rep. Eric Swalwell said the real “chaos” was Republicans even discussing the fentanyl epidemic, a problem he doesn’t think is all that bad. New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler denounced the whole affair as “political theater” conducted by the “extreme Republican majority,” as Roll Call’s Monyak reported.
The Democrats’ witness, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, spent most of his time insisting the border is fine. The real problem, he said, is Republicans’ calling it an “invasion.”
Said Samaniego:
There is no invasion of migrants in our community. Nor are there hordes of immigrants committing crimes against citizens or causing havoc in our community. Claiming this continues a false racist narrative.
[In first GOP-led hearing about the border, witnesses paint sharply different pictures, by Joel Rose, NPR, February 1, 2023]
Democrats escalated their rhetoric in response to the Oversight Committee’s hearing. This committee, chaired by Kentucky’s Rep. James Comer, took a more subdued approach. Its expert testimonies were provided by uncontroversial Border Patrol officials who focused on the specific facts of the crisis. But Democrats still saw the hearing as little more than a Klan rally [House oversight panel clashes at hearing on border security, by Suzanne Monyak, Roll Call, February 7, 2023].
Oversight Democrats tweeted this collegial sentiment before the hearing:
Good morning and good luck to everyone except @GOPoversight members who are using today’s hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.
Good morning and good luck to everyone except @GOPoversight members who are using today’s hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.https://t.co/V4kv8twk5a
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) February 7, 2023
That message was reiterated by the committee’s ranking Democrat, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin:
The extreme MAGA forces in the Republican Party have chosen to abandon the pro-immigration stance of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan and instead spread fear about a “foreign invasion,” paranoia about the racist and antisemitic “Great Replacement” mythology, and disinformation about fentanyl — the vast majority of which is brought into our country by American smugglers working for the international drug cartels and traveling through lawful ports of entry.
[Ranking Member Raskin’s Opening Remarks During Hearing on Border Security, OversightDemocrats.House.gov, February 7, 2023]
Other Democrats on the committee excoriated the GOP’s “xenophobic” rhetoric and seemed completely unconcerned about the border. They were more concerned with Republicans’ saying “invasion” than the invasion itself.
The problem for Democrats: Border officials confirm Republican “invasion” language. Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin of the Tucson Sector testified to Comer’s Oversight Committee that a majority of illegals truly believe Biden opened the borders. “All I know is what we’re being told by people who have crossed and they absolutely unequivocally crossed because they felt like law and policy had changed,” he said (at 2:31.31 below) [Biden Policies Sending ‘Open-Border’ Message to Migrants, Border-Patrol Officials Testify, by Caroline Downey, National Review, February 7, 2023].
Democrats are so committed to the idea that there should be no controls at the border and no enforcement of immigration law that they also attack Biden for trying to do anything on immigration besides letting more foreigners in.
As VDARE.com previously reported, 77 congressional Democrats signed a letter condemning Biden’s parole ploy to hide the border disaster [Letter to President Biden on the Administration’s Border Policies, Menendez.Senate.gov, January 25, 2023]. Biden’s plan allows 30,000 “migrants” per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to come to the U.S. on a legal pretext. “Migrants” from those countries who don’t use that pathway and come to the southern border face immediate deportation.
The policy rewards would-be illegal aliens and does nothing to stop the invasion, but Democrats view it as a grave offense anyway. “We are appalled to see President Biden replicate President Trump’s immigration strategy. The right to seek asylum is enshrined in both international and domestic law,” said New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, one of the letter’s signers. Menendez demanded that Biden do more to offer “legal pathways” to illegals. Of course, he didn’t offer any proposals to stop the invasion [Dems blast Joe Biden for keeping Trump-era Title 42 for asylum seekers, by Caitlin Doornbos, New York Post, January 26, 2023].
For Democrats, there is no invasion of illegals. Despite the extraordinary Biden Rush, they insist that to believe it is to amplify a “white nationalist conspiracy theory.”
Thus have Democrats taken the “racism” smear to a whole new level. It can now be wielded to deny basic facts clear to all Americans.
Democrats aren’t bothered by the invasion because they think it serves their interest. It accelerates the Great Replacement by importing Democrat voters, who will cement, sometime in the future, a permanent Democratic majority that will then wield untrammeled power.
Significantly, Republicans didn’t cave to the Democrats’ obstinance — or their smears. They dismissed the “white nationalist” accusations as unworthy of serious discussion. Oversight chair James Comer said the accusations might even violate House rules:
It’s a violation of House rules and the rules of this committee to engage in personalities regarding other members or to question the motives of a colleague. So remarks of the type that we just saw in the tweet are not permitted by the rules and are not in keeping with the best traditions of our committee.
[GOP Reps Spar With Oversight Dems at Border Hearing Over ‘White Nationalist’ Claim, by Adam Shaw, Fox News, February 7, 2023]
Maybe Republicans are finally learning how to respond to racism charges. There’s no point in dignifying or rebutting them. Just say they’re ridiculous and move on. Democrats want Republicans to waste time trying to fend off the accusations. It’s foolish to fall for the tactic.
Republicans are just getting started with their investigations of the illegal-alien invasion. More hearings are planned for the coming weeks.
GOP leaders hope the hearings will build a solid case to impeach DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas.
But the hearings will also build a damning case against the entire Democrat Party. They don’t care about the border or want to deport a single illegal alien. They don’t even want basic border security. They just want to import as many Great Replacers as possible. Any opposition to that is racist.
That’s a losing political message. Republicans would be smart to hang it around Democrats’ necks in 2024.
Washington Watcher II is an anonymous DC insider.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.