Former Obama DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson feels so strongly that 2020 Democrats are too “extreme” on immigration that he’s written a column in the Washington Post trying to walk them back from the cliff:
Jeh Johnson, who served as former President Barack Obama’s Homeland Security secretary, called out Democratic presidential candidates for embracing “extreme” policies on immigration, like rejecting the deportation of those here illegally and decriminalizing illegal border crossings.
“We cannot, as some Democratic candidates for president now propose, publicly embrace a policy not to deport those who enter or remain in this country illegally unless they commit a crime. This is tantamount to a public declaration (repeated and amplified by smugglers in Central America) that our borders are effectively open to all; this will increase the recent levels of monthly apprehensions at our southern border — about or more than 100,000 — by multiples,” Johnson wrote in a Washington Post column.
“For the same reason, we cannot formally decriminalize unauthorized entry into this country, though first-time illegal border crossers are, in fact, rarely prosecuted for that misdemeanor (except for last year’s disastrous “zero-tolerance” policy).”
Note that Johnson is telling Democrats that we can’t just deport criminal illegals, which ironically was Obama’s policy during his time as DHS chief. Trump adopted the same policy in 2017 but I think all that’s out the window now with these huge surges we’ve been having lately.
Jeh continues…
“To win support from a vocal and committed segment of a major party’s base — and simply for the sake of a good applause line — candidates for office now espouse extreme policy proposals that are unworkable and have no hope of winning the broad support of Congress and the people they represent,” he argued, adding those who put forth policies that have no chance of becoming law are “doing a disservice to our democracy.”
“Here is a radical proposal: a presidential candidate who is willing to educate, enlighten and tell voters the hard truths. This trait has all but evaporated in U.S. politics, but it is the single best job qualification for those who aspire to lead. I’m a Democrat, and whoever among the current Democratic field of candidates demonstrates this profile in courage will earn my vote,” he concluded.
It’s really amazing that the DHS chief to the most radical president in American history now sounds like a common sense moderate in the Democratic party.
And let’s not forget that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also called out 2020 Democrats earlier this year for their socialistic economic policies that would be completely unworkable and bankrupt America.
This is just more proof that the Democratic party is splitting at the seams as they embrace extreme radicalism and socialism. And the radicals, which are many, are trying to drag their more moderate candidates with them.