Unbelievable.

White House officials have tried to pressure U.S. immigration authorities to release detainees onto the streets of “sanctuary cities” to retaliate against President Trump’s political adversaries, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and email messages reviewed by The Washington Post. Trump administration officials have proposed transporting detained immigrants to sanctuary cities at least twice in the past six months — once in November, as a migrant caravan approached the U.S. southern border, and again in February, amid a standoff with Democrats over funding for Trump’s border wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco was among those the White House wanted to target, according to DHS officials. The administration also considered releasing detainees in other Democratic strongholds.

This proposal was too vengeful and crazy for the people at ICE, which should tell you something.

The attempt at political retribution raised alarm within ICE, with a top official responding that it was rife with budgetary and liability concerns, and noting that “there are PR risks as well.” After the White House pressed again in February, ICE’s legal department rejected the idea as inappropriate and rebuffed the administration.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents stand guard at the Cordova-Americas international bridge in El Paso, Texas, U.S. which lanes remain partially closed delaying the crossing of vehicles in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on March 31, 2019. Getty Images

One of the regular drivetime radio gotchas in this regard is to ask, "If you love these 'illegals' so much, why don't you let them pitch a tent in your backyard?", nyuk-nyuk. Apparently, this is the place from which we're drawing national policy these days. Well, thence, and also from the fevered mind of perhaps the worst White House staffer of the past 30 years.

The White House believed it could punish Democrats — including Pelosi — by busing ICE detainees into their districts before their release, according to two DHS whistleblowers who independently reported the busing plan to Congress. One of the whistleblowers spoke with The Washington Post, and several DHS officials confirmed the accounts. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller discussed the proposal with ICE, according to two DHS officials. Matthew Albence, who is ICE’s acting deputy director, immediately questioned the proposal in November...

“It was basically an idea that Miller wanted that nobody else wanted to carry out,” said one congressional investigator who has spoken to one of the whistleblowers. “What happened here is that Stephen Miller called people at ICE, said if they’re going to cut funding, you’ve got to make sure you’re releasing people in Pelosi’s district and other congressional districts.” The investigator spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect the whistleblower.

We've all long understood that El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago considers himself president* only of those people who buy one of his hats. But weaponizing confused, desperate people to has that special tang of cruelty to it that can only be found when two barbed-wire minds are working in perfect harmony. You have to have the humanity of a wolverine even to think of something like this.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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