OPINION

We Are a Nation of Laws

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Maybe you've noticed from watching TV in the past couple of years: When it's about tax returns, executive orders or, of course, Russia, the left strikes a law-and-order pose. Nobody, they tell us, should be above the law in this country. Nobody. Not even -- drumroll, please -- the president of the United States.

It is one of their favorite talking points, and it's highly effective because it's absolutely true. In America, nobody is above the law. That is the promise of this country, and it is the best thing about us. That's why we aren't third-world. If only Democrats actually believed their own bumper stickers. Nobody is above the law? Please, spare us. The Democratic Party's entire electoral future depends upon making certain that millions of people are above the law.

In real life, our laws are unambiguous. Nobody is allowed to move to this country without our permission. People who come here illegally must be sent home. That is what the law says. The Democratic Party is built around ignoring and subverting that law. Just this month, the president called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport illegal aliens facing final deportation orders. To be clear, these are not people pulled at random out of restaurant kitchens but people who, at our expense, have gotten their day in court. They have gone through the process, but in the end, they've lost and been ordered to leave. They have chosen to ignore that order. So, if you cared about the rule of law, you would send these people home immediately. But the left doesn't care, so it denounces any attempt to enforce the law as bigotry.

Hillary Clinton actually shared a guide to help these people, the foreign nationals, evade American law enforcement. It is insanity. But it is normal now. It is now mainstream within the Democratic Party to compare border facilities -- our border facilities -- to Nazi concentration camps. We are a country that liberated concentration camps. Virtually every Democratic-run city has declared itself a sanctuary for illegal aliens. The state of California banned private businesses from giving assistance to federal immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, the Obama administration, you may remember, created an entire program -- called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA -- specifically to protect millions of illegal immigrants from having the law enforced against them. So, maybe you support DACA. Many Americans do. But don't lecture us about how nobody is above the law. "Dreamers," the beneficiaries of DACA, are above the law by definition. That is the point of the program. There doesn't seem to be a single Democratic candidate in the race right now who believes in enforcing immigration law.

Many Democratic presidential candidates even argue we should award illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded benefits. Come here without being asked, break our laws, take our benefits, denounce us as "racist" if you want, and we will still give you free health care. The message is not going unnoticed in the world's poorest countries. Since May 30, more than 1,100 African migrants from 19 different countries have been caught trying to cross our borders. These are not people fleeing starvation. Obviously, they had to buy transatlantic plane tickets to get to our continent. They are coming because they know they will be paid more in America. That's not irrational. You shouldn't hate them for it.

Think about what this means. There are billions of similar people all around the world. Check the global population number if you don't believe it. The Democratic Party decided all of them deserve to come here and stay permanently, at our expense. The law does not apply to them. This is totally nuts, and it is scary. Even some on the left think it is. A new report by the Center for American Progress, the preeminent liberal think tank in Washington, warns that its party's immigration position could cost Democrats the next election. The report says the position is so extreme that American voters are being forced to choose between being a nation of immigrants or a nation of laws.

In the end, most people are for laws. In a newly released Marist poll, only 27% of American adults supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings. That is a position many candidates on the Democratic side have taken recently. Sixty-six percent of Americans are opposed to that, by the way. People in almost every racial group are opposed. A large majority of African American, Hispanic and Asian voters think it is a crime to cross illegally. The poll also found that just 33% of Americans support giving illegal aliens free health care. Sixty-two percent are opposed to that, and once again, this is the majority view of all races. It's not a racial question, despite what they tell you on Twitter; it is just a lunatic idea. Americans don't hate immigrants. They are not bitter racists, no matter what Pete Buttigieg claims. This is a kind and decent country, but it's also -- and it always has been -- a nation of laws. Once we give that up, it's over.

Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel co-founded The Daily Caller, one of America's fastest growing online news outlets, which regularly breaks news and distributes it to over 15 million monthly readers. Carlson and Patel also co-founded The Daily Caller News Foundation, a nonprofit news company that trains journalists, produces fact-checks and conducts longer-term investigative reporting. The Daily Caller News Foundation licenses its content free of charge to over 300 news outlets, reaching potentially hundreds of millions of people per month. To find out more about Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com