LARRY KUDLOW: Do not listen to the Schumer open border crowd

Far be it from me to encourage a government shutdown. Especially one that would shut down FEMA in the midst of bad winter storms, or close down the Secret Service, remembering the assassination attempts on President Trump’s life. But that’s all you get if you defund DHS in this CR, because the immigration deportation stuff has already been financed to the tune of about $75 billion in the one, big, beautiful bill that was signed last summer. So it just doesn’t make any sense. It’s about as dumb as dirt.

But I have a second point, with all due respect to Senator Chuck Schumer and his Democratic colleagues, they have been the party of open borders. Something like 10 to 15 million illegals during the Biden years. So, therefore, I am hoping that the talks between the White House, the Senate Republicans and the Senate Dems tread very carefully on immigration laws and the border.

Mr. Trump has closed the border. And he did it with ICE, DHS, and CBP. So far in just one year, over 675,000 illegals have been deported and 2.2 million have self-deported. And this didn’t require any new legislation. We just needed a tough-as-nails President, who used existing laws, as well as vast public support to close the border.

And there are plenty of other laws in the books regarding the so-called worst of the worst criminals, and plenty of awful criminal ventures undertaken by the illegals and their gangs, for drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and murder, homicides, you name it.

You’ve got the Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, who says he won’t enforce federal immigration laws. Huh? Laws are laws. They should be enforced. If you’re here illegally, the chances are very high you should be deported. By the way, sanctuary cities are not sanctuaries. Federal law overrules local or state laws when there’s a conflict.

My point here is to suggest that Democrats may want to change these immigration laws as the price of a CR deal to avoid a shutdown. And I think in all likelihood, given the open border policies of the Democratic Party, Republicans should be very skeptical of any such deal. Be careful here, GOP don’t go wobbly on immigration with the midterms looming, and the left trying to go back to their open border ways that were so destructive to this country.

Now the management of the forces, ICE, DHS and so forth that Tom Homan is dealing with in Minneapolis is another matter; he will manage those troops as he sees fit. That’s up to him and the President. But that’s completely different than changing deportation and/or immigration laws. Since the border is closed, there will come a point when we can have a national discussion about citizenship, and meritocracy and speaking English, and knowing American history, and paying your taxes and other criteria for legal immigration.

Legal immigration at some point has to be tackled. But not in the next 24 or 48 hours, just to avoid a shutdown, and certainly not in response to a bunch of left-wing Democratic Party open border ideas that voters completely rejected in November 2024. Please do not listen to the Schumer open border crowd.