Don's Tuesday Column

            THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   2/14/2017

                 Phony attacks on Trump’s order

For our nation to achieve respectful debate: 1) partisans on the Democrat left must check their emotions and allow that President Trump and his supporters have America’s best interests in mind while we sincerely disagree on the path to that goal; 2) the losing side of this massive political debate must accept the weight of public opinion—as expressed in the rejection of Democrats for over a dozen state governors, many dozens of House and Senate seats, nearly a thousand state elective offices, and the Electoral College election of Trump;

And 3) liberal advocates must accept “alternative facts” that don’t support their preferred narrative (the legal and scientific fields are endlessly weighing conflicting, supporting, contrary, testimonial and laboratory “facts” in pursuing the truth). In the case of Trump’s immigration orders, I have to say that facts support Trump, not the courts or his detractors.

All of those contentious points are involved in the raging debate over President Trump’s orders. Solid majorities of Americans, and almost all conservatives and Republicans, support building a wall or fence along our southern border (where practical). Most prominent Democrats signed a bill in 2006 to construct such barriers over 800 miles of our border with Mexico.

Only the Democrat fringe (and business owners dependent on cheap, illegal labor) think borders don’t matter and being in America legally is irrelevant. Witness their support for the lunacy of “sanctuary” cities—they only exist to harbor and protect criminal aliens from the INS.

Most Americans support Trump’s (and Obama’s and most recent president’s) restrictions on nations that can’t prove that their immigrants pose no threat. Before the Democrat/media onslaught and hysteria seeped into malleable voters’ minds, Rasmussen Reports found (Jan. 30) that “Most voters approve of President Trump’s temporary halt to refugees and visitors (from targeted nations) until the government can do a better job of keeping out individuals who are terrorist threats.” The support was almost twice (57%) the level of opposition (33%); deluded Democrats think otherwise.

As of last Thursday, mobs of protesters in Arizona were obstructing immigration officers engaged in the lawful detention and transportation of a female illegal alien who was convicted of felony impersonation by using a fake social security number in 2009; she was ordered removed in 2013. You might have heard that over decades she was a wife, mother and otherwise good person. While that may provide disingenuous fodder for the “Not One More Deportation” crowd (written on signs of protesters), it illustrates what utter contempt for the law you find on the left.

Much accurate, insightful commentary can be found at donpolson.blogspot.com under the “immigration” label. Also, look up “Trump’s radical immigration plan: Enforce the law,” “Trump’s executive order will make America safe again,” and “A fact-free debate on Trump’s executive order,” all at WashingtonExaminer.com.

More on that theme: “Trump’s immigration order: Myths and realities” by Paul Mirengoff and David French; Don Surber’s “Media in fact-free fall over immigration” (He shows the infamous photo of Clinton’s SWAT officers removing Cuban refugee Elian Gonzales from his home at gunpoint); “Most claims about Trump’s visa Executive Order are false or misleading” by William A. Jacobson at Legalinsurrection.com; and “Obama’s administration made the ‘Muslim ban’ possible and the media won’t tell you,” by Seth Frantzman.

 Frantzman: “So where are the seven nations [they’re not in Trump’s order]? Where is the ‘Muslim ban’? It turns out this was a form of ‘fake news,’ or ‘alternative facts.’ Trump didn’t select seven Muslim-majority countries. US President Barack Obama’s administration selected these seven Muslim-majority countries.

“The Department of Homeland Security targeted these seven countries over the last years as countries of concern.” DHS selected the countries, Congress wrote the legislation and Obama signed the Terrorist Travel Protection Act of 2015 as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of FY2016. The origin of the seven countries also puts to the lie accusations that Trump avoided nations where he has business interests. Worldwide, only 12 percent of all Muslims are affected.

News media have labored mightily to create “fake news” narratives of fear—as the impetus for Trump’s order (that argument would apply to Obama). Trump is not trying to make Americans afraid of immigrants (we welcome immigrants when they truly desire to forsake anti-American beliefs and assimilate to our values). Trump is not creating fear of Muslims who also reject anti-American beliefs and wish to assimilate. Shariah-adhering Muslims should, however, be rejected. In America, the Constitution, women and homosexuals are not inferior or 2^nd class.

 This all should show the Fitzsimmons’ cartoon (published on this page)—the Statue of Liberty waving a torch labeled “Fear Itself” holding off the world’s immigrants—to be the reflection of a rabid partisan hack posing as a cartoonist who cares not for facts.

Judge Robart asked “How many arrests have there been for those seven countries since 9/11?” “None, as best I can tell” he answered himself. Byron York: “It turns out that (everyone) repeating the talking point had it wrong. Last year the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration…(proved) that at least 70 people born in the seven countries had been convicted—not just arrested, but convicted—of terror-related offenses in the U.S. since 9/11. And that number did not include more recent cases like Abdul Artan, a Somali refugee who wounded 11 people during a machete attack on the campus of Ohio State University.” Trump should add, not cut, nations; judges should recognize that Trump has unassailable power to exclude immigrants.