Either we have immigration laws. Or we don't.
It's that simple. It's always been that simple. And all the special pleading in the world does not change that. DACA recipients are just illegal aliens who benefited from an illegal amnesty. Any differences, real or imagined, don't don't magically put them in another category from the rest of the trade in illegal aliens.
As this case shows us.
Border agents were sent to the area after a resident spotted what appeared to be a smuggling incident, federal officials said. Further investigation led agents to a vehicle suspected of being involved, which they pulled over on Interstate 5 near Dairy Mart Road about 12:10 p.m.
Three men were inside: the driver, a 20-year-old DACA recipient whose status had expired, and two Mexican nationals, ages 21 and 22, suspected of being in the country illegally.
Federal officials said the driver and his cousin, the 22-year-old passenger, told agents they had been involved in human smuggling in the area. The driver is currently in federal custody.
I'm sure the weepy New York Times coverage will take a whole other tack
The second incident happened on Thursday about 8 a.m. Border Patrol agents in East County had just arrested two people on suspicion of being in the country illegally when they spotted two suspicious vehicles on Buckman Springs Road in Campo.
The agents followed one of the vehicles — a blue Honda sedan — and conducted an immigration inspection at a nearby checkpoint.
The driver — a 22-year-old Mexican national who lived in Riverside County as a DACA recipient — ultimately told agents that he and another driver were scouting the area to aid a group of smugglers, federal officials said.
The agents also learned the man had committed other acts of human smuggling, according to federal officials. The suspect, who was not identified, is in Department of Homeland Security custody awaiting removal proceedings.
Again, the mainstream media coverage will be weepy. There will be all the usual accusations of racism. But these cases remind us that mass exceptions to immigration laws eventually become general rules.
Maybe no human being is illegal. But some human beings have a right to be here. And others don't. Immigration laws determine who is here legally or illegally. If those laws are dismantled, then we end up with an open border.
And that's exactly what we have.