While things have calmed somewhat regarding President Trump and immigration (I mean, his Sharpie pen on a hurricane map IS vastly important), Florida Democrats are trying to build the importance of that issue back up, and it's with an eye on the demographic map. Thinking they've found a wedge to finally strip away the dependable Cuban vote from the red team, Democratic pols and their pals in the press are loudly crowing about "the GOP deportations" to Cuba.
At issue is that President Trump has shown a willingness to send back some illegal residents to the island nation. Dems believe this is the very thing needed for 2020 traction within that voting block. Of course, The Miami Herald found an outraged voice to carry water on the Dems' behalf, an immigration lawyer. “South Florida should be up in arms,” bleated the barrister, who represents aliens in potential legal limbo.
Curiously, South Florida was not so enraged about it three years ago, when this deportation policy was drawn up. But as we have learned repeatedly in this entire immigration imbroglio, the actions of the prior administration, which never drew as much as an audible rebuke, have become moral outrages to shriek from the mountain tops -- or, given this is Florida, from the tops of the landfills. When President Obama separated families or placed minors in cages, I don't recall a single soul who declared it the end of our democracy. Today those same actions are proof of racism and declared concentration camps.
And these deportations of Cuban dissidents fall in line with that same practice in the media. The legislation that has altered the long-standing wet-foot/dry-foot immigration policy with Cuban migrants was put in place by President Barack Obama. But now Democrats want to pretend they are suddenly outraged that such a practice could even be conceived by President Trump.
Democrats in and out of the media trot out numbers on this matter for the sake of shock value. It's said now that upwards of 37,000 Cuban nationals potentially stand to be deported. Another figure commonly referenced, however, is 3 million potential deportees the Trump administration is targeting. This is the figure some on the left use to illustrate supposed racism in the White House. But it's done with an incomplete listing of the facts. That 3 million figure involves those who are undocumented residents AND are facing criminal charges. As usual, the critics choose to omit employment of the word “illegal” in such discussions.
Now let's crunch some numbers. That 37K represents but 1 percent of the criminal residents intended to be sent back. Hardly a case of Cubans being targeted in an imbalanced fashion. But, as the Herald itself has reported, we are not even close to approaching that figure. The number of Cubans who were recently sent back? One hundred and twenty. Again, that's 120. And, to further underscore the lack of severity in this shocking number, that minuscule total was one of the largest seen in recent memory.
This makes for an almost immeasurable fraction of 1 percent of those 3 million criminal illegal aliens the administration has decided to send back to Havana. Many in Miami’s Cuban community do not look favorably on those who remain in this country illegally, and on top of that, carry with them criminal charges as well. Democrats suggesting Trump has begun targeting Cuban residents are trafficking in desperate hyperbole, all for the sake of votes unearned.
Brad Slager, a Fort Lauderdale freelance writer, wrote this story exclusively for Sunshine State News. He writes on politics and the industry and his stories appear in such publications as RedState and The Federalist.
