Trying to actually deport illegal immigrants whom courts have ordered deported is now considered authoritarian.

Ken Cuccinelli, a top official at the Department of Homeland Security, made clear that he intended to follow through on President Trump’s plans to remove foreigners in the United States illegally for whom final removal orders have been issued. Cuccinelli said this on national TV on Sunday, and told reporters Wednesday that these operations “absolutely” were going forward.

The reader needs to understand the modesty of this undertaking. Nobody is talking about deporting all 10 million illegal immigrants. Cuccinelli isn’t even talking about deporting every illegal immigrant who has been ordered deported by a judge. Cuccinelli has said that about 1 million migrants illegally in the country have received final order of removal, and that from that massive population, Homeland Security will seek out individuals and try to execute that deportation order.

But if you listen to the Democratic presidential candidates talk, “ICE raids” are a Gestapo tactic. Any physical barrier at the border gets derided as a “monument to racism.”

When Democrats and journalists go so far as to oppose all border barriers and to oppose removal of those ordered deported to stay, they are in fact arguing for lawlessness.

The rule of law is necessary to a peaceful society. Mercy, of course, is also part of a peaceful society. Also, a government must prioritize some enforcement over others. Mercy and priority setting are two reasons why we do not try to deport all 10 million-plus people in the country illegally.

Instead, a small fraction of illegal immigrants are brought into immigration court; often because they are caught up in other legal trouble. At that point, Homeland Security tries to prove that the person is in the U.S. illegally, and where they are from. If Homeland Security can affirmatively make this case, then the illegal immigrant has the opportunity to argue that nevertheless he or she should be allowed to stay.

After that come the appeals, first within the immigration court system, then within the ordinary court system. After all appeals are exhausted, an order for final removal is issued.

It would be impractical to physically return all of these 1 million illegal immigrants to their home countries, which is why we don’t try. But some of them can be brought back to their legal country of residence. This is what Cuccinelli and Trump want to do. This is the plan that has triggered an outraged response.

This response rejects not only the rule of law, but also the principles of American government.

Trump has put it well when he says that a nation without borders is not a nation. Democracy and republicanism are also known as “self-determination.” A people cannot determine their own laws and their own systems of government if they have no control over who “we the people” are.

Democrats used to believe in border enforcement. Then Trump became president of the United States. Some of his immigration proposals and policies have been dreadful. Democrats have reacted by running to an extreme.

They argue that they’re just battling anti-immigration extremism. Really, they’re opposing the rule of law, the notion of national sovereignty, and the very foundation of self-government.