OPINION:
Seldom does a political adversary put the ball on the tee for his opposition to hit it out of the park. When President Biden baited Sen. Mitch McConnell and Congressional Republicans over their lack of principals, it opened the door to what should have been an epic slap back. That hasn’t happened.
Republicans have an opportunity to articulate an agenda that projects a vision for a stronger, freer America. Less drape-measuring and more specifics are necessary for Republicans to be the party that doesn’t just win because the other guy lost but earns the mandate Democrats failed to win in 2020.
That should start by pledging to address the secret resettlement operations administered by the Biden administration.
The border crisis isn’t staying on the border. The guns, drugs, crime and increased costs to taxpayers over the administration’s refusal to enforce the nation’s immigration laws are reaching into every corner of the country.
The now infamous video of a resettlement flight that landed at Westchester County Airport has become a symbol of the administration’s abuse of power. What we saw there in the dead of night is part of a massive operation happening surreptitiously in targeted areas across the country.
During the Obama administration, illegal immigrants were resettled into more than a dozen states. Mr. Biden is following his old boss’s lead and increasing the reach of the resettlement program, though the details have been carefully hidden from the public. There are dozens of charter flights, busses, individual bus tickets and other methods for moving tens of thousands of illegals from border states into the interior of the U.S.
Local and state governments are in many ways powerless to stop it due to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Federal Law enforcement can transport and resettle illegal immigrants at will, without notice or permission from states.
Republicans’ new “Contract with America 2022,” should there be one, must include a pledge to pass legislation that prevents the federal government from transporting or resettling illegal immigrants and their family members in any jurisdiction without permission from the state and local government. Both should have to agree for illegal migrants to be transported into any locality, whether they ultimately end up there or not.
If Congress can pass criminal justice reform legislation that impacts the activities of federal law enforcement officers and other federal officials’ activities in states, they can pass legislation that protects communities from unwanted resettlements.
Congressional Republicans should also commit to forcing full transparency on the targeting, contracts, communications and massive costs of the resettlement program. Federal legislation must close loopholes in the U.S. refugee program to ensure the left can’t abuse the system classifying economic migrants as political refugees to excuse illegality.
If those planes and busses carrying illegals are heading for Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or anywhere else, the public has a right to know the government’s rationale for choosing those locations, who made those decisions, how many individuals were transported and who they are.
America is not a democracy. It’s a republic where states do not surrender their full sovereignty to the federal government. Fiscal coercion, political cowardice and the brute force of Washington’s regulations have stripped away state power over the last half-century.
Republicans can meet the high expectations for their performance this November by devolving power away from Washington back to states and citizens. They should start by stopping Mr. Biden’s costly, dangerous and damaging resettlement scam.
• Tom Basile is an author, a former Bush administration official and the host of “America Right Now” and “Wake Up America Weekend” on Newsmax Television.
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