At this point, stories about Democrats breaking the law are quickly falling into the Dog Bites Man category, but this one is still worthy of note because of the national (and indeed international) platform where it was featured. There was a lengthy list of speakers at the DNC yesterday, each offering up red meat to the progressive base and pleas for unity with the disaffected supporters of Bernie Sanders, but one individual is receiving attention for precisely the wrong reasons. Well before the headliners took the stage, the convention was addressed by Francisca Ortiz and her daughter Karla. She was addressing the subject of immigration – always a winner at Democratic gatherings – but Francisca comes to the subject from a background of specific expertise. She’s currently in the country illegally and is ignoring a standing deportation order. (In case Donna Brazil hasn’t heard, that’s still against the law.)

At Liberty Unyielding, J.E. Dyer highlights some of her background.

With the Democrats having put the first day of their national convention to bed, Dennis Michael Lynch notes that they’ve racked up two violations of Section 8 U.S. Code 1324. What did they do to accomplish that? They knowingly hosted two adult illegal aliens as featured speakers at the convention. One is a woman named Francisca (no last name given), who appeared at the speaker’s podium with her young daughter Karla. Francisca is currently ignoring a deportation order from the U.S. Government. Francisca and Karla are likely to be the pair featured in this June 2016 article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The other is a young woman named Astrid Silva, who came to the U.S. illegally at the age of 4. Now in her mid-20s, Silva has been working on a bachelor’s degree at Nevada State College.

Dyer is covering two of the speakers, but Astrid Silva is apparently here legally at the moment. She was previously an illegal, but now supposedly has a DACA work permit so it’s not as much of a big deal. Ortiz, on the other hand, is openly defying the law and is subject to arrest, prosecution and deportation. And yet somehow she had a prominent speaking slot on the national stage at the Democrats’ big party.

Should we really be surprised? Until just yesterday this shindig was being orchestrated by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and she’s got plenty of experience in this sort of lawbreaking activity. You may recall last year when I talked about the equally strange case of Cindy Nava, the young woman who was actually hired by the DNC Chair to help craft the committee’s 2016 political message and communications. While nobody from ICE ever showed up to arrest either Debby Downer or Ms. Nava, knowingly hiring an illegal alien is still against the law.

By the same token, Section 8 U.S. Code 1324 has something to say on the subject of not only those who enter the country illegally, but those who harbor and abet them. It speaks to any person who:

knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law; encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law

Did anyone from the DNC give Ms. Ortiz a ride to the convention center? Did they arrange for a ride? Having had to navigate the local traffic situation myself it’s more than likely that they did. And by offering her a speaking platform, the DNC clearly seems to be encouraging her remain and reside in the United States. That’s still against federal law. Will anyone be prosecuted for it?

Don’t hold your breath.