When a journalist on the immigration beat sits down to write a column, he never has to wonder if he’ll find fresh material. Rather, the challenge is which of the half dozen developments since he last opined should he write?
Here’s a quick review of last week’s immigration headlines:
From The Hill: “GOP and Dems Bitterly Divided by Immigration.” I’ll pass on that, a thirty-year-old story line.
From CNN: “Supreme Court let’s full Trump travel ban take effect.” Interesting, and a clear victory for President Trump. But explaining travel ban version one, version two and version three is complicated, and would take up most of my allotted 600 words. Besides, the story is still evolving with tedious and ultimately futile lower-court challenges in progress.
From Fox News: “Kate Steinle’s Accused Killer Found Not Guilty of Murder, to be deported.” Timely, but not comforting. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the accused, has demonstrated remarkable skill at illegal entry that resulted in five previous deportations. A sixth illegal re-entry is possible, if not probable.
Finally, here from The New York Times is one that works: “Kirstjen Nielsen, White House Aide, is confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary.” The Nielsen story is relatively under the radar when compared to Steinle and the partisan wrangling over illegal alien amnesties. But, for President Trump’s America First supporters, Nielsen’s appointment should set off ten-alarm fire warnings.
Nielsen is Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson redux. Napolitano and Johnson served in the position under President Obama’s open borders administration.
Let Nielsen speak for herself. Last week, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Nielsen suggested that President Trump is misguided in his call for a southern border wall. Nielsen said: “There is no need for a wall from sea to shining sea ... There’s a lot that we can do with technology to secure our borders.”
More troubling is that Nielsen, like her predecessors Napolitano and Johnson, wants amnesty for deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACAs). In a pre-hearing statement Nielsen submitted to the committee, she wrote that “Congress has a clear constitutional policy-making authority to change immigration law in order to develop a permanent solution for those individuals that were [DACA] recipients. If confirmed, I will stand ready to work with Congress to provide any technical assistance needed towards a permanent, legal solution.”
At the actual hearing, when asked about DREAMers, a different alien category from DACAs, Nielsen said: “We owe it to them to find a permanent solution.”
A permanent, legal solution, to quote Nielsen, are code words for amnesty that would provide lifetime valid work permits, Social Security numbers, citizenship and the ability to eventually petition their non-nuclear family members to join them in the U.S.
To conclude that the U.S. owes illegal immigrants anything shows no appreciation for the billions of dollars that taxpayers have funded for education, health care and other public services, and is an insult. Many DREAMers and DACAs work, and their presence in the job market means an American has been denied a job or displaced from one.
Trump’s Nielsen nomination is an excellent example of why his supporters so frequently become frustrated with his actions. Nielsen is a swamp-dweller, a Bush 43 bureaucrat. During 43’s two terms, he advocated, unsuccessfully as it happily turned out, for amnesty.
But as one swamp insider told me, “With President Trump, you never know.”

Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at joeguzzardi@capsweb.org. Find him on Twitter @joeguzzardi19.