Roundup Weekend

by Gary Fouse

The much anticipated Roundup Weekend should be enough to convince most rational people that ICE is on the right side and the open borders crowd is on the wrong side. Two events over the weekend stand out.

In Tacoma, a 69-year-old Antifa burnout named Willem Van Spronsen decided he would show his support for “hard-working immigrant families” by attacking an ICE center on Saturday with Molotov cocktails and trying to blow the place up. Result? One dead ex-thug. Cops responded to deadly force with deadly force. Today, Antifa and the other assorted anarchists of the world are mourning their martyr, who died for “immigrant rights.” Washington Democrat governor, Jay Inslee, implied it was all Trump’s fault.

Meanwhile, in Aurora, Colorado, protesters paid a visit to the ICE detention center Friday night and showed their patriotism by tearing down a US flag and hoisting a Mexican flag in its place, further winning the hearts and minds of the 2020 voters.

As for how many illegal aliens were actually picked up across the nation, who knows? It seems to have been over-hyped. ICE had announced that its principal targets were those criminal aliens who had already had their day in Immigration court, had been ordered to leave, and ignored the order. That sounds reasonable to me. Yet, the media was all wringing its collective hands worrying about the kids who would return home from church and find their parents had disappeared.

The fact is that our Customs and Immigration officers don’t deserve the abuse they are taking from the Democrats, the media, and the left. Their job is dangerous and thankless enough. Now they are simply overwhelmed by the human wave that is pouring across our border. They do not have the facilities to house everybody. Yet, they have to contend with loudmouth idiots like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) showing up for inspection tours, berating them, and announcing that some female detainee had been told by guards to drink out of the toilet, a claim effectively refuted by ICE officials. Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan testified before the House on Friday and made Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez and Jesus Garcia (D-IL) look like total morons by angrily rejecting their accusations. When the 29-year-old former barmaid informed Homan that it was not a crime to apply for asylum, Homan informed her right back that asylum-seekers were supposed to apply for asylum at recognized ports of entry. Kudos for Mr Homan even though he was picking at low-hanging fruit.

The Democrats are banking on this isssue to carry them to victory over Trump in 2020. But is this what the average American voter is going to identify with in the next election- open borders and throwing our Immigration and Customs agents under the bus? Trump’s critics accuse him of using the weekend raids to drum up his base and win more votes. But when you have people tearing down our flag and replacing it with the Mexican flag or attacking an ICE center with Molotov cocktails and other weapons, who needs roundups to convince people that something has gone dreadfully wrong when it comes to our borders? 

Which leads me to a concluding question: Was this another one of Trump’s sucker punches? If so, it worked like a charm.