Fourteen months into Trump’s second term, the verdict is in. No mass deportations. No major immigration reform. And if Democrats return to power, they will rip the doors off the hinges again.

Trump did slow the flow and put a dent in some outdated visa programs. But the results remain too small relative to the scale of what came before him and what may come after him.

One day, red states will need to enact these deterrents. The only question is timing.

That leaves one durable partial solution: Use red-state supermajorities to deter illegal aliens from settling in those states when the next wave comes. States may lack the power to deport illegal aliens outright, but they can make daily life harder. They can deny jobs and benefits, impose criminal penalties, and create a lasting deterrent that survives any one presidency.

Ron DeSantis appears to understand this in Florida. Almost no other Republican governor does.

Idaho offers the clearest example of the problem. On paper, it looks like the kind of state where serious immigration enforcement should be easy. Republicans hold 61-9 and 29-6 majorities in the House and Senate. Conservatives gained ground in the House thanks to the Freedom Caucus. Yet when the time came to pass meaningful reforms, the GOP establishment folded.

The House moved several bills. The Senate is quietly killing them. Gov. Brad Little (R) remains publicly silent, apparently hoping the issue dies in committee while he cruises to re-election under Trump’s preemptive endorsement and keeps his donor class happy.

The bills now stalled in Idaho expose the fraud.

H704 would mandate E-Verify for all public and private employers and give the state attorney general real enforcement power. It passed the House 43-26 despite opposition from 17 Republicans. It now sits dead in the Senate State Affairs Committee under Chairman Jim Guthrie and Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon.

H700 would make it a misdemeanor knowingly to hire illegal aliens without using E-Verify. That bill is also dead in the Senate, and 22 House Republicans opposed it.

H659 would require all counties and cities to cooperate with ICE through 287(g) agreements. In a state with barely any elected Democrats, one might assume mandatory ICE cooperation would be the easiest of calls. Instead, the bill passed the House 41-27, with 18 lukewarm Republicans joining Democrats in opposition, and now sits dead in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

H660 would require police to inquire about immigration status after a lawful arrest and would mandate a twice-yearly report on crimes committed by illegal aliens. By definition, this involves people already suspected of some other offense. Even so, the bill passed only 40-30 and is now being blocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Blaze Media Illustration

H764 would create a state analogue to the federal statute that penalizes anyone who knowingly or recklessly conceals, harbors, transports, or materially assists illegal aliens. It includes misdemeanor and felony penalties, license revocations, and forfeiture provisions. In other words, it would build precisely the kind of standing deterrent red states will need when Democrats reopen the border. It has not even advanced out of committee.

S1318 would audit refugee-resettlement contractors in Idaho, including the number of refugees served, their demographic and language data, participation in language programs, housing use, geographic distribution, and relevant public-health statistics. It would also require disclosure if those entities aided illegal aliens. It remains blocked in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

H592 would require the state to track how many illegal aliens receive hospital services and how much that costs taxpayers. It would not deny care. It would merely quantify the burden. A similar law in Florida led to a drop in illegal-alien use of the health care system. Idaho’s bill has not moved.

H656 would do the same basic thing in schools by auditing the number of illegal aliens enrolled. It has gone nowhere.

How does this happen in a state so red? The answer is simple: Many Republican officials remain functionally progressive on immigration.

Little is deeply unpopular with the grassroots, but he neutralized the threat of a primary by securing Trump’s endorsement. Everyone knows he opposes these bills. He simply does not want to say so out loud. Better to let them die quietly in committee than risk angering the base or the business interests that still demand cheap labor.

Call it political Murphy’s law. DeSantis is term-limited in Florida. Brad Little gets a third term.

DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

Even Florida has not gone far enough. It already has E-Verify, but lawmakers failed to remove the 25-employee exception. Similar attempts to strengthen E-Verify have failed in West Virginia, Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, all solidly red states.

A few bright spots remain.

Tennessee may pass some worthwhile bills, though lawmakers gutted legislation to charge illegal aliens tuition. Arizona’s legislature is close to passing SB 1421, which would bar illegal aliens from opening bank accounts, cashing checks, or obtaining loans by prohibiting financial institutions from accepting foreign ID cards or ITINs as sole identification. It would make life in the United States much harder without legal status. The bill passed the Senate and awaits a House vote. Unfortunately, Arizona has a Democrat governor who will likely veto it.

That only raises the harder question: Why is this not already law in the 22 Republican trifecta states?

The same problem appears in commercial trucking. Amid the rash of crashes involving illegal-alien drivers, very few states have acted seriously. Oklahoma alone passed a law requiring proof of citizenship to reciprocate out-of-state commercial driver’s licenses. Florida appears to be the one state seriously enforcing the English-language requirement and checking for illegal aliens at truck stops.

Iowa let a bill die in committee that would have required driver’s license exams to be administered only in English. Indiana passed an English-only testing bill, but still failed to address out-of-state CDLs, even after two illegal aliens killed Indiana residents in separate incidents in less than two weeks in February.

One day, red states will need to enact these deterrents. The only question is timing. Will Republicans build them now, during the lull, or will they wait until hundreds of thousands of new invaders flood back in under a future President Gavin Newsom?

That choice will tell us whether Republicans ever meant a word they said about immigration.

Chicago Democrat torches his own party, Gov. Pritzker — reveals why Democrats block Trump's immigration enforcement

A Chicago Democratic leader is slamming his own party, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, for ignoring the Biden-Harris administration’s role in the nation’s immigration crisis.

During a Fox News interview shared on Wednesday, Alderman Raymond Lopez reacted to the recent murder of 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman, who was fatally shot while out on a walk with friends in Chicago.

'We will not allow the Trump administration to remove them simply because we don't want to look as though we're capitulating to him.'

The suspect in the attack, Jose Medina-Medina, is an illegal alien from Venezuela who was captured by U.S. Border Patrol agents in May 2023 and released into the country under the leadership of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. One month after his release, he was arrested in Chicago for allegedly shoplifting, but he was released from custody once again.

"Her death was 100% avoidable. And the culmination of the choices made here, in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, to protect noncitizens even when they choose to engage in dangerous criminal behavior — that mindset has to change," Lopez told Fox News.

Lopez accused Pritzker of wrongly blaming President Donald Trump for Gorman's death. The alderman made this comment in response to a clip of Pritzker from earlier in the week, where the governor attributed Gorman's killing to "national failures."

Pritzker claimed that Trump failed to "follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst" criminals unlawfully present in the U.S.

JB Pritzker. Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg/Getty Images

"If you're going to blame the federal government, then blame it where this problem began, which was under the Biden-Harris administration that allowed 15 million people from South America, Central America, and across the oceans to come through our southern borders, manipulate asylum, be poorly vetted, and then scattered to the seven winds of the United States," Lopez told Fox News.

"I have yet to hear a single Democrat hold Biden and Harris accountable for what has happened," he added.

Raymond Lopez. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Lopez explained that there are currently 2,000 high-priority targets in Chicago who are known dangers to the community, but noted that Democratic leaders "refuse to work" with Trump to remove them.

"We will not allow the Trump administration to remove them simply because we don't want to look as though we're capitulating to him," Lopez stated.

Lopez has previously fought to roll back the city's sanctuary laws to allow the Chicago Police Department to cooperate with federal immigration agents when illegal alien suspects have been arrested or convicted of certain crimes. He stated that his amendment to Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance "would NOT have protected" Medina-Medina from federal immigration enforcement.

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Sara Gonzales blasts comedian over H-1B defense: ‘He completely blew up his own argument’

While criticizing opposition to the H-1B program, comedian Hasan Minhaj attempted to highlight the role of skilled foreign workers in fields like tech and engineering — but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales isn’t having it.

“If you’re a Democrat, you would rather just allow foreigners to come in, exploit our system, abuse our system, rip off Americans, and steal American jobs. You would rather do that than just admit there’s a problem,” Gonzales says.

“And one of the biggest culprits of this type of gaslighting is Hasan Minhaj,” she adds, before playing a clip from the former “Daily Show” host’s latest YouTube video titled, “Why MAGA hates H-1B visas.”

“Now, the H-1B is under attack because MAGA has suddenly become obsessed with hating them,” Minhaj said.

Minhaj then played a clip of Jack Posobiec claiming that “India milks the H-1B system dry” and replaces “American workers in our own tech companies.”

Even Gonzales was featured in his video, where he chose a clip of her saying, “The only way to stop it for good is to end the H-1B program.”

“He just talks really fast and makes it seem like he understands the issue. But in the first minutes, he completely blew up his own argument,” Gonzales comments.

“H-1B visas are special visas granted to skilled foreign workers, mostly in STEM fields. I’m talking about science, tech, engineering, and math. And indians f**king dominate that s**t,” Minhaj said proudly.

“Of the 85,000 new H-1B visas issued a year, about 70% of them go to Indians. And since their creation in 1990, they have been a critical rung on the ladder to citizenship,” he continued.

“You just blew up your own argument. Correct. It is meant for skilled workers. Yes, that’s what the system is supposed to bring in — not for the endless farm of fake software engineers, not for the food service managers that we’re finding, not for administrative assistants, not for ice cream sales analysts, not for the ones that we have been seeing play out,” Gonzales explains.

“Here’s the other issue, Hasan. An immigrant visa is issued to a person wishing to live permanently in the United States, OK? A non-immigrant visa is issued to a person with permanent residence outside the United States — notice the word ‘permanent’ — but wishes to be in the United States on a temporary basis for tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work, or study, as other examples,” she continues.

Minhaj also used a clip of the late Charlie Kirk explaining that when hiring for an organization, you should “prioritize merit,” which the comedian followed up by saying, “If America is all about letting the best rise to the top, how do you justify shutting down legal immigration? I mean, that’s anti-competitive.”

“So, it’s not anti-competitive. ... They are replacing American jobs for cheaper labor,” Gonzales responds, pointing out that many of the jobs aren’t even hiring for “specialized skill sets.”

“I’m going to go out on a limb and tell you, I don’t need an Indian to come in and teach elementary school science in this country. It’s not anti-competitive. It’s gaming the system,” she says.

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Guatemalan laborers get surprise visit from federal agents during home renovation: 'We left home'

A video from a home renovation site in Maryland has gone viral over the detainment of several Guatemalan laborers.

On Monday morning, a group of men showed up to remodel a family home in Cambridge, Maryland. According to one of the workers, it did not take long for the job to turn into a federal investigation.

'The owner of the house kind of called immigration.'

The men had reportedly traveled about an hour and a half from Glen Burnie to Cambridge to complete a remodeling job on a house that included roofing.

As the men were on the roof, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement appeared and began calling the laborers to come down.

Video of the exchange, posted online, was reportedly recorded by one of the workers, Bryan Polanco, who claimed the homeowner had notified authorities.

"We practically had a project to start today ... when they started the work, the owner of the house kind of called immigration," Polanco told N+ Univision DC, according to a translation.

Six Guatemalan workers, reportedly between 18 and 40 years old, were subsequently detained by ICE. Polanco was not detained because he is said to be a permanent resident.

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The viral video, which has been seen nearly 5 million times, contains claims from Polanco that ICE agents are "just hurting working people" who "contribute positively" to the United States.

Polanco also described the homeowner as harboring hate for the workers.

"Instead of going out and looking for criminals on the streets — for drug addicts — they come here to screw over people who are just trying to work. And it's that same woman. ... We were fixing up her house, and yet she still harbors such hatred in her heart."

Polanco went on to tell Univision that the homeowner told him that "if immigrants return again to finish the project, she will always call ICE."

The worker continued to conflate legal workers with illegal immigrants, telling the outlet, "Many Hispanics here in the United States have felt persecuted. We left home, and we don't know if we are going to return."

"Seeing it is not the same as living it. It is because I have already seen many videos, and sadly, today, I had to experience it. And I feel that it is something that really moves you a lot," he recalled.

Ricky Carioti/Washington Post/Getty Images

According to Spanish-language outlet Conexion Migrante, Polanco can also be heard in the video calling the ICE agents "animals."

“Even the neighbors and passersby here were trying to support us, but there’s nothing to be done with these animals."

The wife of one of the Guatemalan workers spoke to Univision in a phone call under the promise of anonymity. The woman said she felt "sad" and "desperate" for her husband, who was detained.

"We are here to get ahead, not to do evil," she stated.

Although no official information has been provided, Univision, citing relatives, reported that those detained do not have the required documentation to remain in the U.S.

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Thug who's been deported 4 times faces upgraded charges after elderly man he's accused of shoving onto NYC subway tracks dies

An illegal alien who's been deported four times faces upgraded charges now that the elderly Air Force veteran he's accused of shoving onto subway tracks in New York City earlier this month has died.

Bairon Posada-Hernandez — a Honduran national with 15 prior charges on his record — was initially charged with attempted murder in connection with the incident, the Department of Homeland Security said.

'I hope he rots in hell.'

However, the New York Daily News, citing court records, reported that charges against the 34-year-old suspect were upgraded to murder Wednesday after the elderly victim who had been on life support recently passed away.

Illegal Immigration Is Way Down, So Naturally The Media Are Freaking Out

'These shifts were largely due to lower levels of net international migration, which declined nationwide.'

The TSA showdown reveals a brutal truth about our politics

America’s newest political battlefield runs through one of the most miserable places in the country: the airport.

Democrats have held up funding for the Department of Homeland Security amid their ongoing war over ICE, and after a month without pay, TSA employees have started refusing to come to work. The result has been crippling delays at major airports, with waits stretching four hours or more and turning an already degraded flying experience into something closer to a public humiliation ritual.

The GOP theoretically holds the levers of power, but in practice it remains terrified of disturbing the status quo.

The brutal truth is that one political party is willing to disrupt travel across the country to protect illegal immigrants and preserve a future voter pipeline. Even after assassination attempts, lawfare against political opponents, and an open push for demographic replacement, conservatives still hesitate to admit that our political battles have become existential.

In theory, the United States remains the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth. In practice, basic air travel now is a dysfunctional disaster. Seats are cramped, service is miserable, fellow passengers are often feral, and airlines charge extra for every scrap of convenience in the hope of squeezing one last dollar from exhausted travelers.

For a while, the indignity at least purchased speed. Flying still got you from one place to another faster than anything else. But incompetence, cost-cutting, and crumbling infrastructure have made significant delays routine. Travelers now regularly build an extra day into both ends of a trip because same-day arrival has become an increasingly reckless assumption.

Adding four-hour TSA lines to that ordeal is more than just another inconvenience. It’s simply insulting.

To his credit, President Trump has moved ICE officers into airports to assist with screening. It is less satisfying than watching those officers execute deportation raids, but early signs suggest the move has worked. Atlanta reportedly went from nearly five hours of screening delays to roughly five minutes. ICE officers appear to be in good spirits, and the agency itself seems to be recovering some badly needed public goodwill. Tom Homan has even said ICE agents will continue deportation operations while helping with TSA duties. It is not an ideal arrangement, but Trump has once again found a way to turn executive action into a political win.

Blaze Media Illustration

Still, the TSA mess raises a larger strategic question, one that extends well beyond airports.

During the COVID lockdowns, public schools across the country shut their doors. Conservatives had spent years correctly describing government education as a progressive propaganda machine and a patronage network for Democratic clients. Yet when the system buckled, the right did not use the opening to challenge the legitimacy of the whole structure. Republicans begged for schools to reopen as quickly as possible. Faced with a rare chance to dismantle an atrocious institution, conservatives instead demanded a “return to normal.” But normal was already a disaster.

The same pattern now applies to the TSA.

The agency did not even exist before 2001, and it has performed badly almost from the start. Most contraband still gets through screening. The TSA has not stopped a single terrorist attack. Like the public school system, it functions largely as a jobs program for Democrat clients while draining billions from taxpayers and making ordinary life demonstrably worse.

Republicans still act as though enduring a few nasty New York Times editorials is too high a price to pay to save the country.

Rather than using this crisis to argue for dismantling the TSA, Republicans have rushed to prove that it is indispensable. The short-term political benefit is obvious enough. No administration wants to own airport chaos. But every such rescue reinforces a deeper assumption shared by both parties: Any government program, once created, becomes permanent. No one is going to vote himself into a smaller state. The incentives do not allow it. America is far more likely to watch the regime collapse than to see it willingly scale itself back.

That failure of imagination points to a larger problem.

Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the presidency while holding a friendly Supreme Court, yet they still appear terrified to govern. Only Trump, in his early burst of executive orders, showed much appetite for using the moment. Even that momentum slowed once the administration ran into the courts and Congress refused to codify any serious part of the MAGA agenda. The GOP theoretically holds the levers of power, but in practice it remains terrified of disturbing the status quo.

Blaze Media Illustration

Democrats behave very differently. Even from a minority position, they are willing to shut down travel across the country for the explicit purpose of keeping illegal immigrants here. Members of the Democratic Party understand that their coalition depends on dissolving the old American nation and distributing its assets to clients in exchange for votes. That agenda is not particularly popular with the historic American population, but it is attractive to new arrivals who did not build the country and feel no inherited obligation toward it.

To remain electorally viable, Democrats need an ever-expanding pool of imported voters dependent on public wealth transfers to cancel out the votes of the native population. If they can replace enough of the country, they can govern it indefinitely. Progressives celebrate that possibility whenever they are not dismissing it as a conspiracy theory.

If one party is willing to grind national air travel to a halt to preserve its electoral advantage while the other will not pass basic legislation for fear of offending someone, the country has a big problem. Trump has pressed Congress to pass the SAVE America Act to strengthen election integrity and give Republicans a tactical advantage, yet the GOP continues to drag its feet. One party behaves as if politics actually matters. The other behaves as if politics is an embarrassing chore.

Democrats are willing to hold the nation hostage in airport security lines to secure victory. Republicans still act as though enduring a few nasty New York Times editorials is too high a price to pay to save the country. A movement that fears bad press more than national dispossession has surrendered the habits of self-government and forgotten what political power is for.

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