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Is it just campaign rhetoric meant to entice voters or tough talk ahead of meaningful action and real policy change?
That’s what we’re wondering as new edicts on immigration seem to be flowing daily from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Whether you count yourself as a supporter of President Trump or not, you have to at least admit the timing of all this is definitely not a coincidence.
The mid-term elections are less than a week away, and Trump is determined to make a full-court press for his Republican brethren.
So, he’s leading the way by taking some very tough stances on immigration, knowing full well that’s what his base and some other voters want to hear and by osmosis could help fellow GOPers running for Congress and Senate.
There has been a whole range of immigration moves proposed by the president in the last week or so, chief among them his plans to deploy active-duty troops to stop the well-publicized migrant caravan still hundreds of miles from the U.S.
The latest on that front: Trump says “we’ll go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border.”
Just a few days before, however, an Air Force general running the operation said a report about 14,000 troops going was “not consistent with what’s actually being planned,” according to the Associated Press.
So, could it be the president is exaggerating troop estimates for effect while the actual military experts are working with the real numbers?
Even if you agree with his stance on this issue — and it’s certainly every sovereign nation’s right to protect its borders — it would be wise to consider a critical election is nigh.
Another headline-grabber in recent days was Trump talking about an executive order to end the right of citizenship for children born in America to non-U.S. citizens.
But as legal experts have pointed out, such a change would run counter to a constitutionally protected right that basically everyone — until this week, that is — has agreed on.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who supports Trump in almost all endeavors, even dismissed it as a silly idea.
“Well, you obviously cannot do that. You cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order,” Ryan said in a radio interview.
Obviously, the president has lawyers around him who know that.
So, we caution voters not to be played.
There’s also the proposal to put anyone crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, including asylum seekers, into prolonged detention in “tent cities” instead of releasing them.
The problems, and they’re huge ones, are legality and practicality.
So, even if you are for strong borders and an immigration crackdown — and again, we aren’t necessarily arguing for or against here — please keep in mind what our leaders can legally do and what is practical and realistic.
There are things you’re hearing from powerful people, from the president on down and from both parties, that are simply designed to influence voters.
“This has nothing to do with elections,” Trump has insisted.
We’ll let voters determine the authenticity of that statement.
But just consider that administration officials themselves are saying the White House won’t likely decide on some immigration moves until after the election.
That should tell you all you need to know.
— Times Leader