Acting Dept. Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said that the timing of the ICE raid in Mississippi was unfortunate, given the mass shooting in El Paso where the gunman specifically targeted Hispanics. We'll stipulate that White House senior advisor Stephen Miller doesn't want to see people killed but we can not say for sure that he also thinks the timing of the raids were unfortunate.
We now have an entire demographic of Americans effectively scared that the current administration doesn't care about their welfare. As Chuck Todd kept asking throughout the program, why weren't there any charges brought against the companies for illegal hiring practices? Mr. McAleenan explained that there haven't been any charges as the DHS is the middle of an ongoing investigation. However, Mr. Trump's DOJ isn't interested in the companies as much as the number of undocumented workers that are arrested. The Administration's goal was to send a signal and as the president said himself, he wanted it to be a deterrent, and the companies involved weren't the focus despite the explicit citation that ICE will target the employers first over the employees. We can sympathize with Mr. McAleenan for the fine line he has to rhetorically walk, but it's telling that he knew exactly the amount of those arrested who had criminal records, but couldn't say how many had green cards. And once again as Kristen Welker pointed out, the administration didn't have a plan in place for the kids separated from the parents.
In a month's time, we'll still remember the raid as the largest single day ICE round-up of undocumented immigrants, but the companies that broke the law will fade in relevance from the story. Also, in a month's time upon the return of Congress from their summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will have hoped that no other mass shooting incidents will have occurred so that he can shelve any gun control measures. It's almost guaranteed that President Trump will supply the news media with enough new outrages to distract from working on any legislation. Mr. Todd commented to the panel that it isn't often that Mr. McConnell pledges to do anything let alone pass legislation. However, just because he said that during a radio interview doesn't mean it will still hold any weight when Congress is back in session.
Timing is a matter of perspective and for those lamenting the fact that these mass-shooting tragedies occur just a Congress is heading for recess. One thing Mr. McConnell wouldn't say is that the timing was bad.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino; Robert Costa, The Washington Post
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