OPINION:
A couple of illegals who were charged with burglary and theft after shoplifting $1,700 worth of clothing from a Macy’s in Oak Brook, Illinois, were arrested — one of them, after breaking free of security forces and trying to flee — jailed and then, get this, released with ankle-monitoring bracelets.
Not deported.
Illinois is a sanctuary state, so criminals who’ve crossed the border illegally have a handy-dandy free pass against deportation. Word is these two suspects, Rafael Mata-Torres, 25, and Abel Barrios-Estava, 20, were heard singing the lyrics to that 1990 MC Hammer hit “U Can’t Touch This” as they skipped from police and exited jail.
That’s the new immigrant song for sure.
“As loss prevention authorities took Barrios-Estave into custody,” Fox 32 wrote, “he allegedly broke away and fled on foot across 22nd Street. Following a brief foot pursuit, officers were able to take him into custody without further incident, prosecutors said.”
But why bother?
Think of the tax dollars that could have been saved by just turning a blind eye to these thieves, in country illegally from Venezuela, and letting them go their merry way. After all, if Democrat-controlled communities aren’t going to ultimately uphold law and order, then there’s no sense in going through even the mildest of motions. Just look to the retail sector to see how law and order has completely broken down in this country.
The National Retail Federation, according to statistics reported by Fox 32, has lost about $112 billion in 2022 alone due to theft. By comparison, this sector lost about $96 billion the previous year, in 2021.
It’s not just illegals doing the thefts.
But it would seem common sense that when illegals commit these crimes, their punishment, post-arrest, would be deportation. Democrats, however, see it differently. Democrats reward criminals.
“Migrant crossings soar to near-record levels, testing Biden’s border strategy,” CBS wrote in September. Strategy? What strategy?
The only strategy this White House has on the border is to open it, and open it wide.
“The number of migrants apprehended by U.S. immigration agents after crossing the southern border illegally has soared to near-record levels in September,” CBS wrote. “Border Patrol agents apprehended roughly 140,000 migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization during the first 20 days of September, an average of about 6,900 each day … That represents a 60% increase from the daily average of 4,300 in July.”
Those are the knowns.
It’s the unknowns who are more frightening for American security.
“Chinese illegal immigrants are crossing into US in unprecedented numbers,” Fox News wrote in March.
Twice as many Chinese crossed into America illegally in 2023 by March as in all of 2022.
Worse — this: “CBP memo sounds alarm on Hamas, Hezbollah fighters potentially using southern border to enter US,” Fox News wrote just this week.
From the Daily Mail: “US border patrol are on high alert for Hamas militants and other anti-Israel terrorists trying to cross America’s insecure southern border from Mexico, leaked government memo shows. … A bulletin from the San Diego Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office urges guards to be on the lookout for members of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
This administration has set the entire nation of legal citizens at risk.
And Democrats can’t even find it in their minds to deport the illegals caught red-handed committing crimes.
Sanctuary cities are Democrat cities. It’s not just thieves here illegally who understand where and how to exploit the holes in America’s justice system. It’s communists and terrorists.
American justice, under President Biden, under the Democratic Party, is being flipped on its head. A nation that not only fails to prosecute criminals but actually rewards criminals for their criminal behaviors is a nation that is on a path of utter destruction. You can’t have the inmates run the system and expect the system to stay lawful, orderly or peaceful.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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