DEREK YOHE: Conservatives need to go hard on immigration—like the Left does on abortion

How should Trump and Republicans respond to the Left’s scare tactics about abortion? Hammer immigration.

How should Trump and Republicans respond to the Left’s scare tactics about abortion? Hammer immigration.

Since the Supreme Court’s landmark reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the half-century ruling legalizing abortion nationwide, the Left has whipped up a firestorm across America’s political landscape, calling for waves of retribution up and down the ticket in the 2024 Presidential Election. From ominous chants of “Roevember” to hyperbolized, dystopian depictions of an America without abortion access, as most recently featured in television ads sponsored by California Governor Gavin Newsom, left-wing groups are organizing to place abortion-related issues on the ballot in multiple states to drive Election Day turnout.

I doubt that this movement has the potential to save a sitting president who has consistently remained below a 40 percent approval rating since the end of March. But either way, it pales in comparison to the American People’s growing concerns about the current humanitarian crisis facing our southern border. For Trump and Republicans, this is a political miracle.

America’s alarming immigration statistics tell all.

Since Joe Biden took office in 2021, a whopping 10 million illegal aliens have entered the United States at rates that eclipse every previous presidential administration, as well as the individual populations of 41 states, save for only California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina. The closest thing to an estimate is that at least 1.7 million of those are classified as “gotaways,” or people who have remained undetected by border patrol.

In a desperate response to these numbers, which barely scrape the tip of the illegal immigration problem, the Biden Administration issued an executive order that would supposedly “clamp down on migrants seeking asylum,” according to a report from Politico.

Of course, there is more to a story than just the headline, especially when it involves Democrats “closing” the southern border. The executive order would effectively allow Biden to suspend asylum claims, but only if the number of border crossers reaches an average of 2,500 crossings a day over the span of any given week. Once the “border shutdown” has commenced, the number of border crossers must fall to an average of 1,500 a day before the border can reopen. In theory, this can happen after just 14 days.

This is not “border security.” This is virtue signaling for Democrats who are finding themselves in an increasingly politically arduous situation: a situation that is far more dire than anything related to abortion.

Recent public opinion polls confirm as much. At the end of March, Gallup published a survey tracking Americans’ biggest issue concerns in 2024. According to their survey, illegal immigration is the seventh-ranking issue among Americans, with 48 percent of responders saying it’s “a great deal” of concern to them. Abortion doesn’t even make the list. However, Gallup also asked respondents to pick the issue most pressing to them off the top of their heads. When they did that, illegal immigration topped the list: 28 percent of respondents listing it as their top concern. In contrast, only 3 percent of respondents list abortion as a major concern, ranked at number 10.

Another stunning metric found within the survey indicates a growing number of Democratic voters who are concerned with illegal immigration. According to the Gallup results, “The percentage worried a great deal about illegal immigration has increased seven percentage points, from 41% in March 2023 to 48% today. This mostly reflects a near doubling of concern among Democrats, from 14% to 27%.”

A recent CBS News poll reflects a similar sentiment. Most Americans find Trump preferable to Biden when discussing issues like finances, the economy, and—you guessed it—immigration. 70 percent of respondents believe illegal border crossings will decrease under Trump’s policies compared to Biden’s 20 percent.

The poll also reflects a harsh reality for Democrats who accuse Trump of “racism” and “xenophobia” for wanting to deport illegal immigrants. When the poll asks Americans if they would support a policy that would effectively “deport all undocumented immigrants,” a whopping 62% of registered voters would support such a policy, including a third of Democrats. Quote:

“A nearly six in 10 majority of voters say they would favor, in principle, a new government program to deport all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. (That isn't purely partisan, it includes a third of Democrats. It rises to nine in 10 Republicans.) A similarly sized majority would have local law enforcement try to identify those living in the U.S. illegally.”

How should Trump and Republicans respond to the Left’s scare tactics about abortion? Hammer immigration. That issue alone would turn out more voters than Democrats could dream of abortion doing for them. Americans are disgusted with the Biden Administration’s disastrous handling of illegal immigration and its enabling of lawlessness. While abortion may prove to be a key motivator for the Left, immigration is a key motivator for everyone else. That is where Trump and Republicans have the upper hand, especially after Trump announced his stance on abortion was, to quote him, “The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land.”

Trump’s malleability on the abortion issue could signal a different tune to voters than what the Left continues to parrot. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled to reject a challenge to mifepristone, a popular abortion pill, the concern among voters may continue to sink even lower.

Nevertheless, the southern border is still wide open and Biden has continued to do absolutely nothing to hinder illegal crossings, except for a small slap on the wrist that means nothing in the grand scheme of solving the crisis. Minors are still being trafficked, drugs are still pouring across the border, and potential national security risks are still entering the country undetected. While Democrats are concerned about protecting the borders of countries thousands of miles away, our own citizens continue to reap the consequences of open borders.

Immigration is the “abortion” issue of the Right. The sooner Republicans understand that, the better off they will be when Election Day finally arrives.

Image: Title: immigration abortion
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