Where Oh Where Did My Nasty Immigrants Go?

 

"In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside. 

These, and other such Cities, are the core of Democratic Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base

(1)Cheat in Elections

(2)and grow the Welfare State,

(3) Robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American citizens.

These Radical Left Democrats are 

(4) Sick of mind

(5) Hate our Country and 

(6) Actually want to destroy our Inner Cities--and they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them. 

(7) That is why they believe in Open Borders,

(8) Transgender for Everybody,

(9) and Men playing in Women's Sports--

(10) and that's why I want ICE, Border Patrol and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role. 

(11) You don't hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!"

--Who Else? Oi! Donald the Trumpling

So, this Trumpish screed was just so good not even Paul Krugman could resist responding to at least part of it. As Dr. Krugman noted, you don't hear those who live in New York City--or any other--complaining about having to live with the "American carnage" Trump sees in their towns. In fact, in NYC, where 37% of the population is immigrant, murders were 83% lower in 2024 than in 1990, and the murder rate is still falling--which is more than you can say for the state of Mississippi, which has no big cities comparable, where the murder rate is 20/100,000 people, the highest in the nation.

If there is American carnage anywhere, murder rates would place it among the non urbanized, but highly Confederate Red States which elected Trump.

But let's unpack some of these Trumpist claims. Usually he just throws so much at the wall, one never pauses to pick apart the ketchup from the spaghetti but let's just go through it this one time.

(1) Illegal immigrants do not cheat in elections. Democrats do not use them to cheat. There is deminimis election fraud and none of it involves illegal immigrants who have no incentive to want to get swept up in any such thing. The only reason Trump resents inner city election results is cities vote so resoundingly against Trump and all those who sail with him. This is where the biggest No King demonstrations happen. People who live in cities, who are actually pretty good at living with their neighbors and with other people who come from different backgrounds revile Trump and all he stands for, which is hostility to anybody but white bread Leave It to Beaver types.

No Kings Houston

(2) Illegal immigrants do not grow the Welfare State, as they are not eligible for Welfare and do not want to raise their heads above the ground to be identified by applying for welfare. This is all that Ronald Reagan Slipper Gipper non sense about the Black welfare Queen who drove her Cadillac around town living high off her $5 a week welfare checks.

(3) Illegal immigrants do not rob good paying jobs from hard working American citizens--This is that whole "Simpson's" episodes, "They Took Our Jobs" thing.  Illegal immigrants tend to take jobs employers cannot find workers for--scrubbing toilets in hotels, picking crops, roofing, installing drywall, landscaping, washing dishes in the kitchens of restaurants. In fact, Trump had to back off on raids on workplaces because the fat cat owners got to him, complaining he'd shut down their businesses if they could no longer exploit and hold captive illegal immigrants to do the work.

(4) People in big cities are not sick of mind. You want to see some sick of mind people, go out into the rural parts where there isn't much in the way of health care or social services.

(5) People in cities do not hate our country. Viz the demonstrations in big cities this past weekend.

No Kings, Philadelphia

(6) People living in inner cities do not want to destroy the cities--they like their cities. That's why they live there.

No Kings, Los Angeles

(7) Who the "they" is who believe in Open Borders is unclear. One might argue it's Trump and Stephen Miller who believe in open borders, as they destroyed the most comprehensive and severe Immigration bill Congress was all set to pass because Trump wanted to run on immigration.

(8) Transgender everybody? What is he exactly saying? Does he think Illegal Aliens or Democrats who run the inner cities want to turn everyone into Transgenders? Or is he simply playing that card he knows has resonance when it comes to...

(9) Men playing in Women's sports. Oh, here you have it. He knows that even among many Democrats, among Democrats who would support transgenders being allowed to be left alone, there is hostility to allowing men who have gone through a male puberty and then transitioned to womanhood from playing on women's teams, from swimming in college on women's teams.  This is a weak point for Democrats because it requires some delicate distinctions, which never play well in politics. And if Trump is good at anything, it's finding the raw wound.

(10) Our police are patriotic. Which is to say, police, like some soldiers, are Trumplings. They know where their salaries come from and they want to protect the most reactionary forces which promise no changes, no accommodations and to keep them in power.

(11) You don't hear about Sanctuary Cities in our heartland. Except when you look at the No Kings parade in places like.

Bennington, Vermont 

Louisville, Kentucky (Heartland Enough for you?)

Jackson, Wyoming (Pretty Dang Heartland)

Cincinnati, Ohio

Anchorage, Alaska (Even Alaska! Red as it is)