OPINION:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli said that raids on illegals are “absolutely” going to take place, that President Donald Trump is on board with the idea and that the far-left, for all its crying and whining, could go take a long leap off a short pier.
Well, he didn’t exactly say that last. But it was implied.
And count on it: The left is going to react very badly to such a bold pronouncement. Make way for the accusations of racism, for one.
“They’re absolutely going to happen,” Cuccinelli said, The Hill reported in a tweet. “There’re approximately a million people in this country with removal orders and, of course, that isn’t what ICE will go after in this, but that’s the pool of people who have been all the way through the due process chain.”
Sound the media gongs.
“U.S. Prepares to Arrest Thousands of Immigrant Family Members,” The New York Times put it.
Immigrant Family Members — that’s rich.
The Trump administration had initially announced a June operation to target up to 2,000 families in 10 cities and remove “the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the U.S.,” as he wrote on Twitter.
But Trump then gave Congress a couple of weeks to deal with the border issue and put the operation on hold.
Now, according to Cuccinelli, the raids are “going to happen” once again — and good on that.
Remember under former President Barack Obama when illegals would gather in public and deliver speeches — in full view of the media, the public, law enforcement — demanding more, more, more from the American people?
It wasn’t just a mocking of America’s border. It was a slap in the face to America’s system of law and order.
Things seem a bit different these days.
Whether the raids actually take place or not, at this point, doesn’t even matter. Illegals have been set on notice. They’ve been sent the message. They’ve been warned — they’re being watched — and they’re as they should be: treading carefully, looking over their shoulders, worried they may have to face account for the laws they’re breaking.
And that’s the proper attitude for lawbreakers to assume.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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