LULAC Calls Troops at Border an ‘Insurrection’

With several states sending troopers and National Guard units to the chaotic southern border, illegal aliens will have a tougher time moving into the country, right?

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is worried — but not about the broken border. Rather, it is demanding that Washington stop the states’ “insurrection … [and]deploy federal troops to defend the rights and lives of Hispanic-Americans on the border.”

LULAC’s racially tinged claim of “rebellious states usurping federal powers” is ridiculous and patently false. The reinforcements in Texas and Arizona under a multistate emergency compact are not enforcing federal immigration law. But they are working to restore a semblance of law and order. Has LULAC contorted its open-borders position to the point of covering for criminal acts? It’s certainly ironic when such organizations hurl accusations of rebellion while supporting sanctuary policies that actively thwart federal enforcement.

Authorized to make arrests as Texas raises penalties on offenses ranging from human trafficking to criminal trespassing, out-of-state troops serve as force multipliers in border areas overrun by illegal aliens and criminal cartels. Whether crimes will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and whether criminal aliens are ever be deported, remains to be seen.

The Migration Policy Institute notes that Congress authorizes state and local police to arrest violators of two criminal immigration provisions: one barring smuggling and trafficking, and another targeting people who re-enter the country illegally following removal.

Contrary to LULAC’s overheated rhetoric, local and state authorities cannot stop individuals solely to inquire about immigration status. Illegal aliens not charged with local or state offenses are turned over to federal immigration officers.

And that’s the biggest loophole in this operation because the U.S. immigration enforcement apparatus under President Joe Biden has devolved into a migrant processing service. Delivering “non-criminal” aliens to a Border Patrol station means only a slight administrative delay in their release into the country. 

Hammering home their frustration, four Texas sheriffs and the Federal Police Foundation, representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, last month sued the administration for preventing federal officers from deporting criminal aliens. In May, Florida sued over the administration’s failure to detain aliens released from prison.

The multi-state compact can be a helpful tool for local police work — certainly it’s better than nothing — but at the end of the day immigration enforcement remains a federal responsibility. Amid this administration’s ongoing dereliction of duty, Washington has become the source of the real insurrection.