The Heart of Trump’s Deportation Push

[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]

You’ve probably heard commentators say that under President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is arresting and deporting a huge number of illegal immigrants who have no criminal record. The first response to that is: If they crossed illegally into the United States, they have a criminal record. Plus, they’re still in the country illegally. Second, the numbers just don’t support the commentators’ claim.

A new report by The Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli notes that, “The Trump administration arrested 595,000 illegal immigrants between Jan. 20 and Dec. 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security. ICE revealed that 70%, or about 416,000, have ‘criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the U.S,’ an agency spokesman said in a statement.”

An ICE spokesman told Giaritelli that beyond those criminal convictions and pending criminal charges, there are some illegal immigrants who have committed few, if any, crimes in the United States but are wanted for serious crimes in their home countries. For example, Giaritelli writes that “ICE arrested Antonio Israel Lazo-Quintanilla, whose only offense in the United States was driving without a license. However, he is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide, extortion, possession of drugs, and other felonies.” Obviously, Lazo-Quintanilla, who sports a huge “666” tattoo on his forehead, should never have been allowed to enter the United States, and should never be allowed to enter again, once he is deported.

In any event, according to the ICE numbers, the great majority of those arrested have been involved with the justice system. And those whose only crime is crossing into the United States illegally are still … criminals.

That has long been a point of contention in media circles, where some commentators refuse to believe that crossing illegally into the U.S. is a crime. But it is. Recently, the argument was rekindled when Fox News’ Bill Melugin, who covered the massive incursion of illegal border crossers during the Biden era more extensively than anyone, noted an exchange earlier this year on CNN.

The subject was the Trump administration’s drive to deport illegal immigrants. Anchor Abby Phillip said that the large number of deportations “means that they’re not just going after criminals.” To that, commentator Scott Jennings responded, “Well, they’re going after people who are in the country illegally, right?” Phillip said that the number of deportations “is a much bigger universe.” Jennings asked, “Doesn’t that make you a criminal?” Phillip said, “No, it doesn’t.” Jennings asked, “To come across the border illegally?” Phillip said, “Coming into the country illegally is a civil offense. It’s not a criminal offense.”

Wrong. “Crossing the border illegally is a federal criminal offense,” Melugin noted. “A first-time illegal crossing is a misdemeanor via 8 USC 1325. An illegal entry after deportation is a federal felony via 8 USC 1326. Overstaying a visa is a civil offense. All of the above makes one deportable.”

The exchange is important because, in the sometimes angry conversation over immigration law enforcement, there is often an unspoken assumption that illegal border crossing is not a terribly serious matter. It is not unusual to hear commentators decry the arrest of illegal border crossers who are said to have “committed no crime.” In fact, their presence in the United States began with the crime of crossing the border without authorization.

That applies to an estimated 9 million people who crossed illegally into the United States during the presidency of Joe Biden. How to deal with those illegal crossers is one of the most intense debates of the second Trump administration. It seems obvious that authorities should focus on those who entered illegally and have then committed additional crimes. But it’s also obvious that crossing illegally into the U.S. should have serious consequences — like, if you do it, you don’t get to stay.

That is the message the Trump administration is sending. In the long run, it is the only way for a nation to operate. In 2005, when he was still in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama said, “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.” That was true 20 years ago, and it’s true today.