Posted on Monday, December 23, 2024

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by W. J. Lee

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The 2024 elections are over, but the political fallout from four years of open borders policies appears to be only just beginning for the Democrat Party. While some Democrats are taking the hint from voters and calling for stronger enforcement of immigration law, others are stubbornly refusing to change their tune – and it may be driving the party toward a crisis moment.

Immigration policy is already shaping up to be a flashpoint in Virginia’s off-year elections in 2025, specifically in regard to so-called “sanctuary cities,” or localities where Democrat officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announced his intention to amend the state budget to withhold state funding from sanctuary cities and “require local law enforcement, sheriffs, and jail directors to fully comply with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers and provide notification to ICE 48 hours prior to the release of an illegal immigrant who commits a crime.”

In short, Youngkin’s policy would better enable ICE to prosecute and deport illegal aliens who commit crimes. “Several localities and several jails in Virginia have implemented sanctuary policies in recent years… and as a direct result of these reckless and flagrant, irresponsible policies, violent criminals are allowed back into our communities,” Youngkin said at a press conference.

Youngkin’s budget amendments will be voted on in the coming months by Virginia’s Democrat-controlled state legislature. Democrat leaders in the state, clearly recognizing that the policy is a winning issue for Republicans, are doing their best to distract from the specifics of the proposal. Virginia State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell has accused Youngkin of “inflaming the public,” while Louise Lucas, chair of the Virginia Senate Appropriations Committee, said Youngkin’s sanctuary city proposal has “no chance of getting off the table.”

Democrat Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, the current frontrunner to be Democrats’ nominee for governor next year, has been unusually quiet on the subject – likely recognizing that it could be a politically treacherous issue.

With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in just a few weeks and begin what he has promised will be the largest mass deportation operation in American history, similar battles over sanctuary cities could soon explode throughout the country.

In Los Angeles, for instance, the city council has passed an ordinance prohibiting city resources from assisting federal immigration enforcement. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has also declared emphatically that he is willing to go to jail to stop Trump’s plans to deport violent criminal illegal aliens. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has said he will not “bend or break” from his determination to restrict local law enforcement cooperation with federal agents.

However, even in these progressive safe havens, there are growing signs that such defiant opposition to Trump’s immigration agenda may be becoming politically untenable. This month in Chicago, residents filled a city council meeting to speak against Johnson’s budget proposal that prioritizes illegal immigrants over American citizens. “You caused all this money to go to illegal immigrants,” one man said during public comment. Another resident accused Johnson of failing to “protect the people of Chicago from invasion.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, meanwhile, has taken the opposite approach from his Democrat allies in Chicago and Los Angeles, promising to work with the Trump administration to deport violent offenders. Adams warned in a press conference earlier this month that some illegal immigrants are “committing crimes, robberies, shooting at police, and raping innocent people.”

In defiance of the city council, Adams also met with Trump border czar Tom Homan and expressed dismay that some of his fellow Democrats were attempting to “cancel me because I’m going to protect the people of this city.” Both Adams and Homan reported that meeting to be productive, with Adams announcing his intention to reopen the ICE office on Rikers Island.

Even before the 2024 election, some Democrats at the federal level publicly criticized the Biden administration’s border policies after facing mounting backlash from voters. In March, 14 congressional Democrats voted for a resolution denouncing Biden’s border policy.

Supporting open borders and mass amnesty while opposing deportations, even of violent criminals, has long been a central plank of the progressive agenda – an agenda that now drives the Democrat Party. But a majority of voters, having witnessed the resultant violence and chaos of open borders policies, now support Trump’s plans for mass deportations, and made as much clear by sending him back to the White House this November.

Democrats thus find themselves facing a widening intra-party schism when it comes to immigration policy. How the party navigates this divide will determine not only its political future but also the broader national conversation on border security and immigration enforcement. The stakes couldn’t be higher, as Democrats must choose between appeasing their progressive base or addressing the growing demands of an electorate that demands law and order.

W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government.