How far are Democrats willing to go this year in their efforts to demonstrate their progressive bona fides? In Texas we may be seeing the limits of this swerve to the left on display. Several Democratic candidates for top offices are now pushing a move toward decriminalization, but this time we’re not talking about marijuana. They want to decriminalize illegal immigration, essentially removing the need for most of the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without actually “abolishing” the office. (A subject which doesn’t poll very well.) And we’re not talking about some back bench Democrats running for a county commission seat here. It’s the Democrats’ candidate for Governor, one congressional seat and none other thank Congressman “Beto” O’Rourke, who is currently fighting to flip the Senate seat held by Ted Cruz. (Huffington Post)

It’s time to decriminalize unauthorized border crossings, three Democrats running for top offices in Texas tell HuffPost. That simple legal reform would have massive repercussions, upending the “zero tolerance” policy that the Trump administration used to split up families at the border. It would still allow the Department of Homeland Security to charge unauthorized immigrants with civil violations, but it would save the government billions in incarceration costs and allow federal prosecutors to spend more time fighting non-immigration crimes. And it would be logistically simpler than abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the idea currently in vogue on the left wing of the Democratic Party. Few top Democrats have weighed in on the concept. But during a campaign sweep across South Texas this weekend, congressional candidate Veronica Escobar, gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who’s running for Senate, all called for some form of decriminalization.

This is the spoon full of sugar approach to pushing for open borders and it appears that at least some Democrats think it could be a winner. Calling to abolish ICE has backfired in a major way and Americans overwhelmingly don’t want open borders. (When given a choice between open borders and secure borders, poll respondents this year chose “secure” by a 79% margin.) Similarly, polling from as recently as last month shows that Americans want to keep ICE by a two to one margin over those who would like to see it abolished.

So here comes the new strategy from the Democrats. Rather than wiping out immigration law or the officials assigned to enforce it, we’ll just do what many states have done with marijuana and simply “decriminalize” it. In other words, illegal aliens – if they are questioned at all – will simply get the equivalent of a parking ticket and be sent on their way. No need for expensive court proceedings and detention centers. Think of the money we’ll save!

Yes. We could wipe out many of the problems we face with gang violence if we simply decriminalized crack dealing, assault, gun crimes and human trafficking. Crime rates would plummet and it would free up the police forces in places like Chicago and Baltimore to focus on the more pressing issues of traffic violations and littering. It’s truly a stunning bit of genius provided you don’t actually think about it for more than two seconds.

The fact is that decriminalization of illegal immigration would be nothing more than running up the white flag. With no fear of repercussions, everyone considering jumping the border would flood into the country in short order. Of course, unless the Democrats also plan on repealing (or at least decriminalizing) all of the laws about employing illegal aliens, all of those people will still wnd up either falling into the already strained social safety net or turning to a life of crime.

By all means, let’s have the Democrats adopt this plan. And the media should ask every other Democrat running for office to comment on whether or not they support it. Of course, given our current media crew, that’s never going to happen.