Marina Jaimes
In late May, KDSM Fox 17 released an article describing recent immigration-related arrests around Iowa. The incident adds to the list of immigration debates growing over the past few weeks.
Manuel Cano, according to the article, was a DACA recipient who was unexpectedly deported. Three weeks later, he faced an untimely death in Mexico. A friend said he was found dead and cut into pieces by drug-cartel members.
A former classmate then took to Twitter, stating, “ICE agents deported a young man I went to high school with. A week later, he was identified chopped into pieces. The f***ing news took down all evidence of the story. F**k the city of DSM, F**k the Feds, and F**k Trump.”
Of course, the news of such a gruesome murder is troubling to many, and it should be. A young man lost his life in the most terrifying of ways, and yet, the reaction was not to be upset with the murderers themselves. The natural reaction to blame President Donald Trump sheds light on the political climate since November 2016.
The death of Cano brought a swarm of anger toward the president for actions that were not his own. The anger was with an administration that upholds law and order and not toward a country that has allowed fear and lawlessness to dominate their own. As a poor young man lost his life in animalistic fashion, his murderers do not carry the blame for their actions. The ignorant hatred of Trump’s immigration policy was also demonstrated by left-wing personalities in the media.
In a meeting with the California state officials, Trump commented on a scenario in which Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims was concerned on if she could not report a MS-13 member to ICE. He responded, “We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them — but we’re taking people out of the country. You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.”
Some members of the media quickly rushed to accuse Trump of referring to immigrants as animals, ignoring that he, like the sheriff, was on the topic of MS-13 gang members.
Shortly after, photos of immigrant children in cages have circulated the internet as an attempt to smear Trump and his heartless stance toward families in search of better lives. Liberal activists such as Shaun King and Linda Sarsour contributed to the sharing of photos while also blaming the Trump administration.
Words were quickly eaten as The Daily Caller revealed that the pictures were taken in 2014, under the Obama administration. CNN reporter Hadas Gold said, “Deleted previous tweet because gave the impression of recent photos (they’re from 2014).” Gold made her point clear: If it can’t be Trump’s fault, it’s not worth reporting.
The hyperbole of the incident is a precise reflection of modern Democrats and the lengths they will go to to resist Trump. “The Resistance” lives up to its name, because it shows that it will blindly oppose any policy of the Trump administration in an effort to unnecessarily protest. In its pursuit of defiance, it has managed to lose any credibility it had left in the fight for immigrants. It has created a climate in which it is a rarity for events to not be Trump’s fault. When it comes to immigration, political points have mattered more than honesty.