OPINION:
President Obama used U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to hunt down, apprehend and deport far more illegal aliens than President Trump, and that included raids on residential, commercial and industrial establishments.
Mr. Obama was dubbed “Deporter in Chief” for his accomplishments: more than 400,000 deportations in 2012 alone and more than 3.1 million in his eight-year tenure. So why is Mr. Trump getting so much flak while Mr. Obama got hardly any, and for the same activity? Good question. Here are the answers.
First, Mr. Obama did it “quietly” compared with the spectacular show Mr. Trump is putting on. Also, Mr. Obama was as smooth as silk while Mr. Trump is as abrasive as sand paper. The “optics” apparently matter.
Second, Mr. Obama is a Democrat, making it difficult for activists and the mainstream, left-wing media to attack him and his ICE agents the way they are attacking Mr. Trump’s. That alone helped avoid a lot of unnecessary bloodshed. Sorry, but that’s a fact.
Finally, Mr. Obama “kept the door open” for dialogue with immigrant rights groups to discuss the matter, even though he knew it wouldn’t change things. Mr. Trump doesn’t appear to be open to dialogue, probably because he also knows it won’t change things.
So it all appears to boil down to “style,” because the final fact of the matter is that Mr. Obama was, and Mr. Trump is, enforcing existing immigration law, as is their constitutional right as president.
Yet Mr. Obama was polite, while President Trump is relatively rude. That’s the only real difference I can see here.
ARTHUR SAGINIAN
Santa Clarita, California
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