In the not-too-distant past when America used to make patriotic instead of “woke” films, fictional President James Marshall, played by Harrison Ford, proclaimed in Air Force One that “America will not negotiate with terrorists.” When Air Force One was later hijacked by terrorists, he stuck to his word, telling the ringleader “get off my plane” before literally throwing him off it.
Conservatives on Capitol Hill should rewatch this movie — and take its lesson to heart.
What the Biden administration and its radical left allies are engaged in is nothing short of political terrorism. Their tactic is simple: give us what we want, or we will blow it all up by packing the court, ending the filibuster, adding new states, and pushing a federal takeover of elections.
All of these are nuclear options meant to achieve a permanent, one-party political takeover of the country. If you thought the loss of public confidence and the reaction to the 2020 election was bad, you can’t imagine what the lost confidence in our system would be if all of these power grabs occur.
Nowhere is this strategy more apparent than on the issue of illegal immigration. And as of right now, all signs point to Congress giving in to Biden’s demands, which would damage the basic structure of our country as a democratic republic and destroy the confidence and trust of the public in the federal government in a way we’ve never seen before
Joe Biden entered the White House promising the largest amnesty for illegal aliens in U.S. history. No one knows how high the number will be, as we don’t even know how many illegals are in the country. Estimates generally range from 11 to 22 million.
Whatever the number, there is no acceptable amnesty deal for the far-Left that doesn’t include a “path to citizenship,” which is D.C.-speak for getting more votes for Democrats in elections as soon as possible. The voting aspect of this is fundamental: without a voting component, Biden and his left-wing advocates would not support it.
It’s all about the votes, a political move at its very core as the left sees this as permanently changing the electorate in their favor. Don’t believe us? Remove the “path to citizenship” aspect from any immigration “deal,” and try to find a national elected Democrat who would support it.
So how is the Biden administration getting Republicans to even consider such a deal? Well, in short, Biden blew up border security and the legal immigration system and will only fix it (or so he claims) if they give him what he wants. He is currently waving illegal aliens in like a third-base coach telling his star runner to head home. His administration is literally letting thousands of aliens a day cross the Southern border, helping Mexican drug cartels fill their coffers with the funds flowing from their human-smuggling operations in the process.
What Biden wants is more illegal aliens in the country to generate more appetite for an amnesty “solution” for such a large population. And he and AWOL border czar Kamala Harris won’t lift a finger to fix the mess they made unless they get something bigger in return.
Unfortunately, some Republicans are already taking the bait. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), recently introduced a bill that would help implement the open-border policies Biden has established by more quickly “processing” and then transporting illegals into the far reaches of the country, without even forcing Biden to put back into place the effective enforcement policies he undid that caused this crisis.
“Processing” just means rubber-stamping their entry and then releasing them to disappear into the heart of our vast nation, where they will never be found or ever removed from the country. At the same time, a group of Republican senators are pushing for a massive amnesty and considering mere nods at border security.
Letting the Biden administration destroy border security to allow unimpeded illegal immigration and then giving him concessions to do even more damage to the country is a strategy only a used-car salesman could love. This border crisis was caused by Biden’s irresponsible and reckless actions. It can be mitigated only by Biden himself re-implementing the policies he undid. This does not require any congressional action, let alone nation-changing concessions.
If Biden wants to be the president who oversaw the most overrun border in U.S. history, with all of the resultant crime and budgetary problems, then that is something he will have to answer to voters for in the 2022 midterms. Granting him the ability to freely process and transport illegal aliens into the United States even faster and in bigger numbers only grants the far left a public relations and political victory. It is treating the symptoms, not curing the disease — and it allows them to say, “Well, at least the facilities are no longer at overcapacity because we are shipping them to American communities faster.”
The same goes for Biden and his cronies wanting to throw our increasingly fragile nation into a crisis we have not seen since the Civil War where the basic legitimacy of government craters in the wake of partisan court-packing, adding new states to manipulate the Senate, ending the filibuster to tyrannize the minority, and a federal takeover of elections that gives federal bureaucrats and the party in power in Washington, D.C., the ability to sway and control election results.
If Biden and the far left decide to go down the path of making good on their threats, then the drastic, lasting damage they would do to the country will be forever linked to their actions. The reaction and consequences will exceed any immediate political gains they hope to gain.
That will be their cross to bear, but conservatives on the Hill shouldn’t give into these threats to compromise and give them anything that will help them achieve their objectives.
We don’t send conservatives to Capitol Hill to make liberal policy happen slightly more slowly. We send them to have the same strength and patriotism of President James Marshall and to tell the radicals to get off our plane.
Mike Howell is Senior Advisor for Executive Branch Relations at The Heritage Foundation. Hans von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow in Heritage’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.