By Dr. Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker
Watching legacy media might give one the impression that President Donald Trump is cleaning house, deporting the tens of millions of illegal aliens allowed into America during the terms of all recent past presidents.
And that border czar Tom Homan is leading a scorched earth effort to round up each and every illegal alien and send them packing.
At least that’s the perception one might have by watching network or cable news.
What is the reality? How are Trump’s “massive” and “unprecedented” deportations going?
Are illegal aliens being rapidly deported as Trump promised in his 2024 presidential campaign?
Or is the media gaslighting Americans, pushing a fear porn narrative that is far from reality?
How many deportations happened during the first two months of the current Trump administration?
On March 19, Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Newsweek that 28,319 individuals had been deported between Inauguration Day and March 11.
It may seem like a large number, but using an approximate figure of 15,000 deportations per month translates to 180,000 per year, or 1.4 million over a theoretical 8-year presidential term.
“According to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute back in 2017, more than 12 million people were ‘deported’ during the Clinton administration. The report adds that over 10 million were removed or returned during George W Bush’s time. However, the number is much lower for the Obama administration, at 5 million.”
Even President Joe Biden out-deported Trump; “Trump immigrant removals now 10 percent below Biden’s record.”
To be precise, the government no longer uses the term “deportation.” Instead, “There are ‘removals,’ which involve a formal court order, and then there are ‘returns,’ which do not.” Terminology aside, both involve illegal aliens being sent back to their home countries.
Trump is a lightweight compared to his predecessors, yet the media ignores this fact, depicting Trump as the mean orange man sending innocent pillars of society, such as the “Maryland man” thug, back to their home countries.
The “Maryland Man” I refer to is the latest media attempt to disguise his true persona.
Remember how the media called a Ferguson, Missouri thug who tried to kill a police officer after robbing a convenience store a “gentle giant”?
By this logic, Hitler was just an ‘Austrian Man,’ like one of the extras in The Sound of Music.
The “Maryland Man” in reality is an El Salvadoran national, a wife-beating criminal, an illegal alien gang member who may have been involved in human trafficking.
Democrats have a new constituency, “Maryland Men,” also known as criminal illegal aliens.
As Politico reported, “House Dems travel to El Salvador to secure Maryland man’s return.”
Back to Hillary Clinton. What does she have to do with any of this and why would I suggest her as a border czar?
I am referring to a past version of Mrs. Clinton. Today’s version echoes the media caterwauling about poor Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wife beater and MS-13 gang member.
On social media, she recently whined: “Before the election, I warned that there is no safe haven under authoritarianism. If they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison—accused of no crime, with no trial—they can do it to anyone. Americans of conscience must stand against this now.”
Interesting about the no crime, no trial concern. Perhaps she forgot Benghazi, where an unknown YouTuber created a short video mocking Islam, which only had a handful of views. Yet Clinton’s State Department, along with the White House and CIA partners, blamed this unknown video for the disastrous and botched CIA cleanup operation.
YouTuber Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was promptly arrested and jailed over some previous bank fraud charges via a hearing before a judge. Clinton is right, “they can do it to anyone,” and they did, just to distract from Clinton’s malfeasance.
Let’s delve further into Mrs. Clinton’s history, specifically 2008 during her first failed run for the White House. In this video, she sounds tougher than Tom Homan.
I think we gotta have tough conditions. Tell people to come out of the shadows.
If they committed a crime, deport them. No questions asked. They’re gone.
If they’ve been working and are law-abiding, we should say here are the conditions for you staying. You have to pay a stiff fine because you came here illegally. You have to pay back taxes. And you have to try to learn English. And you have to wait in line.
Kudos to Mrs. Clinton for her clear approach to illegal immigration, at least when it suited her political ambitions.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE AMERICAN THINKER
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