Friends, my latest article focuses on the Trump Administration's about-face on the issue of whether hotels, restaurants, and farms employing illegal aliens will be subject to ICE raids. In the end, Trump and Co. decided that there will be NO SAFE HAVENS, and I support that decision.
U.S. Sovereignty Should Trump Corporate Profits Every Time
Recently, Republicans, conservatives, and Trumpers were horrified to learn – in the wake of the pro-illegal immigration L.A. riots, no less – that the Trump Administration had decided to suspend ICE enforcement and deportation raids at hotels, restaurants, and farms. This tactical retreat from what has been, up to now, a no holds barred, zero tolerance approach to curbing illegal immigration, was apparently the brainchild of Brooke Rollins, Trump's Secretary of Agriculture and a notoriously pro-business Republican. That some in the administration wish to soft-pedal the deportation of valuable (and cheap) workers, in the interest of maximizing corporate profits, can't come as a surprise. About 5% of U.S. workers are illegal aliens, and some businesses are totally reliant on the work they do. What did shock many, however, was that Trump posted about the move on Truth Social, seeming to brag (!) about his newfound flexibility and inclination to mercy when it comes to certain forms of illegal immigration. Not without good reason, many Republicans, conservatives, and Trumpers found this change of direction as galling as it was inexplicable.
For decades, the Achilles' heel of all efforts to limit or end illegal immigration has been the unwillingness of either Democrats or Republicans to deprive American businesses of the vast supply of cheap, illegal labor that constantly renews itself, thanks to our hitherto insecure southern border. Even President Trump, in his first term, did not distinguish himself as a draconian enforcer of our numerous laws criminalizing the hiring of illegal aliens as workers. Few businesses were charged with related crimes, and only a couple of thousand illegal workers were swept up in workplace raids. Perhaps Trump's attitude in those days was that “the Wall” would, by itself, solve the illegal immigration problem, and thus inconveniencing the GOP's corporate allies, who so often hire illegals, was unnecessary. If so, this was a naive approach, because cutting off government benefits and job opportunities for illegals is the only lasting, definitive way to solve the problem. Simply put, the Almighty Dollar is the chief incentive for illegal aliens to come to the U.S. in the first place, and no administration since that of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s has had particular success in taking away this incentive – and nor has any president since Eisenhower tried very hard to do so.
Nonetheless, despite Trump's lassitude in 2017-21 in arresting illegal alien workers, and more importantly their shameless, greedy employers, Republicans, conservatives, and Trump supporters had a right to expect that the Trump Administration's focus, energy, and ruthlessness with respect to worksite enforcement would be redoubled this time around. The announcement that hotels, restaurants, and farms would get a pass, therefore, was a terrible disappointment.
Luckily, the firestorm of outrage that this move generated had the desired effect: almost immediately, the Department of Homeland Security announced that raids on all types of businesses would continue, and no industry would be immune from the illegal immigration crackdown. While Trump himself did not lay particular emphasis on this policy climbdown, one assumes that the president is keenly aware of the need to maintain his credibility, including his reputation as the toughest enforcer of our nation's immigration laws in living memory – a major source of Trump's popularity, and a central element of his agenda. After all, his most notable success in immigration policy to date, the virtual cessation of illegal crossings at the southern border, is a consequence not of robust enforcement by the Border Patrol, but is more accurately the result of a psychological sea change among the migrants and potential migrants themselves. They no longer are coming across our border because they no longer believe that the U.S. government will turn a blind eye and let them stay. In other words, they fear Trump, because of his infamous toughness and hard-heartedness.
Sadly, that image was dealt a setback by the confusing policy zigzags on the question of workplace immigration raids. Giving some categories of businesses a blanket assurance that they could violate our nation's laws with impunity, because to do anything else would be expensive and inconvenient, was clearly a mistake. Reversing that decision, although embarrassing, was the right thing to do. With that reversal, the Trump crackdown on illegal immigration is back on track, and the American people can hold out hope that our long open borders nightmare may soon come to a conclusive end.
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmakers show on WLEA/WYSL.
And here it is in the Olean Times Herald:
https://www.oleantimesherald.com/2025/06/26/u-s-sovereignty-corporate-profits-every-time/
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In other news, airstrikes and missile strikes continue to light up the night sky in Israel and Iran. Trump is debating (with himself) whether to join Israel in the attacks on Iran's nuclear program. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson recently interviewed Ted Cruz, and the main topic was U.S. support for Israel and the possibility of U.S. involvement in the current conflict. Obviously, there are major divisions on the right about foreign policy and our proper role (if any) in containing aggression from Russia, Iran, and other bad actors. On Iran, I must admit I feel conflicted. I don't want any more "forever wars", and I generally think the U.S. should mind its own business, but it's hard to see any downside to the (semi-)permanent destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities, and maybe the humiliation of its tottering regime, when it doesn't appear that Iran has the capacity to lash out in any serious way. Trump has a hard decision to make here! I pray he acts rightly.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I was about to say I'd favor giving small businesses and farmers a break for a short amount of time to allow them to adjust. But then I recalled; they also are breaking the law by employing illegals and they either know it or are looking the other way.
ReplyDeleteOur President is enforcing our laws, period., as he should. He knows that our Immigration laws are the product of a democratic process in which most plausible , workable views were contested and compromise was reached. The far left , for which unfettered immigration across the southern border is a much needed transfusion of new blood obligated to them, which is vital to their eventual totalitarian takeover, endorses democracy only when it yields them their intended results. Failing that it is by definition unjust, oppressive and to be "struggled" against "by any means necessary".
President Trump is fully aware of their intent and their expeditious methods; is he ever! They "smote him hip and thigh and right merrily is he returning their blows" . He quickly realized his mistake in proposing unlawful exceptions to our laws and , mostly guided by President Reagan's generally sound maxim of "there are no solutions, only choices", is working realistic reform of our heretofore dishonored Immigration laws. He sees his duty and he does it. Hooray!
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteDoesn't really matter what Trump decides about Iran, as Israel has already decided, and is already doing what needs to be done. Not really complicated is it?
Dr. Waddy from Jack: We have a choice here but I think Israel does not. Its VITAL for them to do or see the complete destruction of Iran's offensive nuclear capability. They may consider even eliminating any possibility of Iran using any kind of nuclear power if there is any possibility it could clandestinely converted to weapons. I mean, Iran is sitting on an ocean of energy sourses. And they must see the renunciation of nuclear weapons , from a trust
ReplyDeleteworthy Iranian regime, comparable to that which Japan adopted against any offensive capability, post WWII.
Equally indispensable : Israel must see or see to the eradication of the insanely Jew hating engine which the Iranian regime is.
Israel will never have a better chance to free itself of this atavistic antipathy! A world which has for the most part countenanced this incomparable evil could at least wish Israel well of this fight! "Enough is too much!" but that's no joke this time.
Of course Israel intensely values its alliance with the U.S. but it would be hard put to acquiesce to an "agreement" with the present Iranian regime. I hope Pres. Trump does not consider such a measure. Perhaps he has intelligence that a regime change is presently likely.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Little wonder so many Jews quit Europe altogether post WWII! News today says nine EU nations voted to task Israel over imported goods produced in a West Bank "illegally" held by Israel. Gee, they sure picked a good time to trifle with Israel didn't they? Sure does say something about the signatories to this indecency and it ain't good folks. Why, maybe it was Palestinians who made these goods! Did they consider that?
ReplyDeleteImagine an unengaged entity trying to bring Britain to account in Sept. 1940 for some pitiful, technical "offense". I almost wish they had done so so that Churchill could render memorable eloquent remonstrance.
Too, one cannot really blame Israel for holding on to their only direct access to their most holy places in Jerusalem, access to which was denied them by Muslim powers , while Muslims enjoyed free access, before Israel up and took 'em back. I mean , cut 'em some slack , you
obnoxious EU members who chose to act so lowly. Some of you know just what it was like to live under unmerciful tyranny. So show it!
I should have said ". . . while Muslims enjoyed free access to their sacred sites in Jerusualem . . . " Jack
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: In the ever tolerant U.S., supporters of Iran have crawled out of their storefront Federally funded community organizer lairs. "Hollah, hollah, Ayatolah"! If we get involved, we'll see them start spitting anytime.
ReplyDeleteLets see: Israel attacks sites meant to produce weapons meant to , well, immolate Israel. Iran attacks densely populated areas. Israel gives advance warnings to populous areas near military targets and Iran hits a hospital. Iran's leader shouts defiance to those who would prevent him from finishing Hitler's work.
And yet, the far left rasps, moral superiority belongs to the neo Holocausters. You would think the former would have collapsed under the discrediting weight of their absurd convictions, chief among which is the blatant antisemitism they have displayed on America's heretofore elite campuses. But they have no integrity and no shame. And that is just how they would exercise the rule they still aspire to, despite America's belated recognition of their evil.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Perhaps DJT's restraint in his first term was due in part to his laborious acclimatization to the Presidency. But he has returned as a far more effective President, tempered and taught by experience and unprecedentedly vicious attack on his person and his family. He is far better set now to deal decisive repulse to America's enemies, domestic and foreign. Better late than never.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I wonder if ICE'sTom Homan helped to persuade Pres. Trump to drop his idea of relaxing some of our Immigration laws (presumably temporarily). If so, hooray; Homan is a dang good man. He is just what we need ; a tough and apologetically and frankly tough talking law enforcement leader who will stand for his troops against the terribly discouraging strictures, threats and excoriation directed at them by those who embrace any excuse offered for criminals including , most perversely, those originating with criminals themselves.
ReplyDeleteI saw it first hand working in NY state prisons: "do gooders "in state government imposing suffocating regulations on Officers and those civilian prison workers who bothered to understand the security and disciplinary necessities of prisons. Instead these mostly far leftists (who always worked outside the walls)championed abominations like a "grievance system" for inmates which enabled customarily amoral inmates to retaliate for being punished and ridiculously generous law libraries and professional legal aid which enabled and sometimes encouraged inmates to intimidate prison staff at will for doing their duty against disruptive and threatening thugs. (Such free legal aid is mostly unavailable to law abiding citizens).
This experience gave me to understand the unjust difficulties which police and ICE must labor under in their already terribly difficult duties. That is why I am so glad to see a man like Homan given the means to support them and compel compliance with democratically established laws which must be enforced to be true. He's willing to go nose to nose with criminal lovers like Newsom and NY state far leftists in order to work the justice the law abiding public deserves .
And he does so, as do so many of those now working to return America to sane administration, under vicious excoriation and even physical threat from the "American" far left, the opportunistic criminal thug foot soldiers they employ and the pathetic "idealists" who vote for them. Thanks, many, many thanks to him and all like him!
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Dr. Waddy from Jack: So, Townhall informs us. the far left intends another "No KIngs" expectoration for July 4th. Oh, I hope they do, the better to cement their anti America credentials. Do it, far lefties, while some of the Vietnam era traitors are still clinging on.
ReplyDeleteOf course they will be rehearsing for July 4, 2026, into which they mean to throw a tremendous monkey wrench. Again, I wish them happy days leading up to this , their best ever opportunity to trumpet contemptuous and profound hatred for America.
If they are capable of doing it without physical destruction (though probably I ask too much) let them flourish in preparation for their grand moment then of awakening America to its completely condemning guilt and its surely impending downfall! Let them reserve edifices like the Javits Center to welcome their consummate rejoicing at their ruination of despised July 4th, yes.
Then let them see how very, very much unwelcome their incipiently totalitarian intentions are and how intensely America eagerly awaits their consignment to the "ash heap of history" to which so many of their commie idols have already been driven.
I should add, just in time for the 2026 campaign. Jack
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Oh , our President is a sneaky bugger isn't he? Why, he was planning all along to do what he said he'd do if Iran persisted in its neomedieval threat to immolate Israel. The nerve of him. . . ! How dare he actually gainsay the tradition of American restraint and the drawing of evanescent "red lines" . Iran had such touching confidence in this.
ReplyDeleteJust for ducks I watched MSNBC's coverage last night as long (or as short) as I could bear it and it was predictably snide and negative.
Sen. Tim Keane, a man pusillanimously willing to endure being Hillary's running mate and her prospective subordinate, is now most exercised at our President for this "reckless" defense of our strongest ally and even ourselves. Imagine, AOC is actually talking, well, impeachment! I expect we'll hear from the usual reflexive America haters too. Why, some of them may quit Martha's Vineyard for a time to get to where the action is. "Huzza, huzza for the Ayatola!" "That's the ticket , we'll undermine this jingoistic Trumpist nonsense just like they did in the good old '60s when they actually got away with aid and comfort for the enemy!"
No dems, I'm not maintaining that measured criticism of this strike, free of the overwrought ad hominem malice which is reflexive for so many in the immeasurably degraded dem party, is inappropriate. After all, its the far left which seeks to stifle democratic dissent in our country. Sen. Fetterman has set an example of loyal, principled opposition which the dems would do well to heed even though they are probably even now convening the Inquisition for him .
BTW, I hope the the public clash with Tulsi Gabbard was part of the game. She's an hombre and we need her.
I'm reminded of 'ol Jimmy Carter when he was in his "lets refrain from inordinate fear of communism" trance. "Now wait just a blamed minute" his avatars say , "we need PROOF that Iran is planning nuclear aggression".A mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv or a U.S. carrier perhaps?
Jack, there's no question that, if we were to deport all the illegals overnight, the economic harm would be considerable. We will NOT, however, be doing that, or anything close to it. We'd be lucky if a quarter of all illegals had been expelled by the end of Trump's second term. Thus, all types of businesses will have plenty of time to prepare an "exit strategy" from their reliance on illegal immigrant workers. I suggest they get to it!
ReplyDeleteRay/Jack, I wish the Israelis (and the USAF) much luck in blowing the Iranian nuclear program to smithereens, but I doubt either the Israelis or we will be able to engineer the collapse of the regime. As I've said elsewhere, regime change would have to come from within, which would potentially negate its value. ANY Iranian government will say mean things about Israel, but that's not quite the same thing as building atom bombs to obliterate it.
Trump's decision to attack Iran is, among other things, a calculated risk in terms of domestic politics. MAGA is by no means united around support of Israel, or a desire to confront Iran. Thus, my guess is that Trump's intervention will be surgical, and the vast majority of the grunt work in bombing Iran will still be done by Israel. Of course, Iran could scramble those calculations, depending on its reaction. So far, that reaction looks very guarded.
Jack, if the Left plans to take to the streets on July 4th, I say bring it on, because the politicization of our most hallowed national holiday would only make them look petty and deranged. In other words, it would be totally in character.
Speaking of committing political suicide, I applaud those Dems currently taking Iran's side over that of the U.S. military. Swing voters will love these anti-American talking points! Keep it up, lefties.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I think Israel is as highly civilized a country as to be willing to do a new Iranian regime much good, provide the nukes have been destroyed. Maybe that would make for a workable "friendship" which might spare Israel expressed Iranian antipathy. We set the example with Germany and Japan.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack : Lots of concern being expressed about Iranian "sleeper" cells in the U.S. waking up and doing us dirt.Why, who needs little clandestine coteries, run by who knows what kind of nasty latter day Che when we already have a very active , very woke manifestation of the radical Islam/ "american left" mob. David Horowitz described their counterintuitive "enemy of my enemy is my friend" mutual admiration movement years ago in his prescient work Unholy Alliance. Some of the same people he wrote of (eg. Code Pink, various "Answer" gangs) may be involved in the anti ICE onslaughts. They might well be eager to advance a united front with seasoned Jew haters(I mean, just for now: you know how "united 'revolutionary ' fronts" usually end up at each other 's throats). They've shown us just how well organized and financed they are since the Oct. 7 outburst of barbarian "righteousness". And they've shown how they attract and hold opportunistic all purpose lowlifes, like duct tape in a pile of dust willies! And to be sure, they have the always idealistically motivated campus radical crowd which recently outed its antisemitic, well, hate. Why should Iran depend on the special forces in the Great Satan when they already have such a main force ready for deployment ehh?
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Somehow though, I think our DOJ and Homeland Security are well acquainted with the organizers and financiers of those groups and would know who to take to task should they get too frisky on the side of Iran.
ReplyDeleteThere has been much discussion today that we do not know where the material to build 9 Iranian nukes might still survive. We may have worked comprehensive destruction of their factories but does Iran still hold usable product? Israel may well know but they may not know where all of it is. Is there still some possibility of a nuclear attack on Israel or America?
But today's Iranian attack on a U.S. air base in Qatar is being widely described as a possible, otherwise futile face saving effort by a desperate regime. Lets hope it is in the throes of overthrow.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I was just looking at a map of the MIddle East. I almost had to use a magnifying glass to see Israel. Not so Iran.
ReplyDeleteImagine Portugal attacking Spain, Belgium attacking Germany, NIcaragua attacking Brazil , Lesotho attacking South Africa!
Nonetheless , the usual naysayers in, for example, that forum we generously provided on the Hudson for tinhorns and neo feudal lords to garner unwarranted attention: in such settings it is those brutal Israelis who, not content with turning a scrubby shingle into a first world miracle, are seen to purpose also to have their way in their Middle East neighborhood. Nah, I think Israel would be quite content to simply enjoy its inspired nationhood free of existential threat straight out of the Middle Ages. Their detractors even outside the Middle East are viciously jealous of Israel's astounding accomplishments and its high civilization . They are the bullies and Israel is the tough little guy who never gives up, never takes any truck but just wants to get along.
Jack, I would think any new Iranian regime would make antagonizing Israel JOB ONE, just to prove they weren't in Netanyahu's pocket. For the same reason, Trump has to shake his fist at Putin once in a while. That's politics for you.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't know where Iran's enriched uranium is, and it's a fair point that, as long as they have it, building a bomb will be a realistic possibility. The Israelis seem to have some excellent human intel inside Iran, so I imagine they're trying their darnedest to find the stuff and destroy or pilfer it.
Israel's power is indeed out of all proportion to its geographical size and population. It just goes to show you how ineffectual most Arab (and Persian) regimes are. They have huge advantages that they have utterly failed to capitalize on.