Democrats have figured out that if they make it as easy as possible for illegal immigrants, that is, potential future Democratic voters, to spread all over the country, it’s nearly impossible to get them out. And if anyone tries to get them out, they can count on the national media to hyperventilate about “the children.”

A front-page story in the Washington Post on Friday about the ICE raids in Mississippi earlier this week said that the operation had “led to images of weeping children arriving home to find their parents missing.” (Note the use of the phrase “led to,” as though it were a random occurrence rather than a deliberate editorial decision by a news organization to broadcast the faces of weeping kids.)

The Post story said that the raids “again exposed what state and local officials say is a major shortcoming in ICE procedures for dealing with children.”

A video clip of an elementary school-aged girl pleading for the release of her illegal immigrant father went viral on Twitter and ABC News featured it on Wednesday’s broadcast of World News Tonight.

True, the surprise raids did end up with the arrest of close to 700 illegal immigrants residing in Mississippi. Children who had been at school came home in some cases to find one or both of their parents gone, taken in to ICE custody.

After the raids, ICE said that about half of the detainees were set free, with priority given to those who had children at home needing care. That would include illegal immigrants who had already received deportation orders but, because of the children, were let go and simply given notice to appear back before a court. (If they didn't show up the first time, let's hope they will the second or third time!)

Employers are illegally hiring, and at this point, surprise raids are virtually the only way to enforce what’s left of our immigration laws. Everyone below Texas knows that they’re allowed to waltz right in so long as they claim asylum and come with children. They know the immigration court is backlogged by about 1 million cases right now, so they’ll have to be turned loose inside the U.S. for up to five years waiting for a hearing. And they know that Democrats will breathe fire on anyone who tries to deport them once they’re inside the U.S.

Last month, when President Trump announced that there would be countrywide ICE raids to deport “millions” of illegal immigrants, Democrats in Congress and in sanctuary cities immediately flooded the Internet with notice that if they didn’t answer the doors to federal agents, they couldn’t be taken in to custody.

Democrats have likewise resisted making changes to the asylum system. They won’t contribute any money to building more barrier “walls” on the southern border. They oppose prosecuting illegal border crossers. And they’ve made up a bunch of lies about the migrant detention centers functioning as "concentration camps."

There are no options left but for ICE agents to show up unannounced at workplaces and courthouses and the like to drag illegal immigrants out of the country — or, at least, to drag them to an federal facility and then release half of them because the children are waiting at home.

Surprise raids aren’t pretty, but they wouldn't be necessary if not for Democrats' efforts to block all other enforcement. They have forced them on the children.