ICE mistakes are turning Americans against it

I support ICE — the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement wing of the Department of Homeland Security.

What I don’t support are ill-organized, poorly-planned, and actually illegal actions on its part. 

If you enforce the law, you are bound by the law.

There’s no wiggle room on that.

Currently, this boils down to a single phrase, two words — due process.

Let’s be clear: Due process is guaranteed in the Constitution, and it protects all people on U.S. soil — citizen and noncitizen, innocent and guilty. I know a lot of people think it shouldn’t protect noncitizens, but it does. 

I know many on the MAGA Right don’t care about due process.

Greg Gutfeld, a leading Fox News host, has repeatedly said, “I don’t care about due process,” and also said he resented having to do research to understand it.

His research apparently was as effective as a bra on a hedgehog. He still rejects due process. He doesn’t care about the law, nor the Constitution. He just cares about his feelings, which, he has often said with contempt, is what motivates the Left.

Many MAGA heads contend that Democrats use due process as a pretext to keep illegals here.

A few do, but a greater number act as if illegals have a right  to be here. They invented Sanctuary Cities to protect them.

And here the willingness to ignore the law switches from the Right foot to the Left foot. The so-called sanctuaries exist to thwart the removal of illegals.

Currently, ICE is getting slammed for deporting American citizens, including a 2-year-old. 

There are other recent cases, and earlier ones in which ICE has detained Americans, including Puerto Ricans, who are all American citizens. These are costly goofs.

There are murky details around the 2-year-old, whose mother was lawfully deported. The mother reportedly wanted to take her daughter with her, while the child’s father wanted her to stay here. This will be cleared up in the coming days.

But the issue is not the deportations, but that ICE follow U.S. law, which mandates illegals must have a hearing before deportation.

Do you want to know where ICE’s sloppiness has gotten us?

Immigration was a winning issue in the election of Donald J. Trump. Two-thirds of Americans had approved of deportation. Now 53% disapprove of how he is handling immigration.

That’s a huge slide, and it can be traced directly to the screwups by ICE and other feds.

For decades, many on the Looney Left had attacked ICE, demanding it not even enter their neighborhoods. They did not want enforcement. You know, the defund the police crowd.

Now, sadly, sane Americans are sliding that way.

Mistakes hurt the cause. ICE must get smarter.