We wish Democrats were right on immigration and the border crisis

Let us be perfectly honest with this issue. We would all love to believe the rhetoric of Democrats on immigration. No one wants a real crisis on our southern border. No one wants to see illegal alien gangs murdering teens in our cities, or accept the fact that the drug cartels profit from our weak immigration laws, or acknowledge that 80 percent of women and girls get raped as they make their journey across Mexico into the United States.

It would be wonderful if President Trump were exaggerating the severity of the border security crisis and the threat it poses to our society, as Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail continue to claim. Unfortunately, the statistics prove that the crisis is very real, and wishful thinking is a luxury that our country cannot afford at times like these.

{mosads}“I briefed the media and testified in Congress that our immigration system was at the breaking point,” warned Kevin McAleenan, who was the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and is now the acting secretary of Homeland Security, in a press conference late last month. “That breaking point has arrived this week at our border.”

McAleenan was right. According to a recent report, the Department of Homeland Security is so overwhelmed by the current flow of illegal aliens that it was forced to release more than 17,000 illegal immigrants in the United States in just 12 days. In total, the agency has had to turn loose more than 125,000 illegal aliens since December and is on pace to release about 500,000 migrants into American communities by the end of this year. Half a million people is the size of a significant metropolitan area, yet the Democrats continue to tell us there is no crisis at the southern border.

In a recent speech, 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke attacked the rhetoric of President Trump, criticizing his claim that some illegal immigrants are “rapists” and “criminals” and repeating the false allegation that he called asylum seekers “animals,” even though that remark was actually made in reference to the brutality practiced by MS-13 gangs.

The speech was just another attempt by the Democrats to diminish the border security crisis or dismiss its existence altogether. For more than two years, Democrats have done everything possible to undermine efforts that President Trump has made to secure the border, refusing to give our immigration enforcement agents the resources they need to capture, detain, and deport all of those who are entering our country illegally.

What will it take for the Democrats to admit there is a real crisis on our southern border? What will it take for the liberals in Washington to stop attacking President Trump whenever he proposes solutions? How many illegal immigrants must be released into our communities before the Democrats heed his warnings? All of us would prefer to believe that there is no crisis here. But only some of us are willing to face the grim reality.

Madison Gesiotto is an attorney and a commentator who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign. She was an inauguration spokesperson and former Miss Ohio. She is on Twitter @MadisonGesiotto.