January 1, Maryland Democrat Plays Dumb on ICE — Doesn’t Mention His Own Party’s Sabotage

Wyatt’s Take

• Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin pretended not to understand why ICE can’t just pick up illegals from jail — while ignoring that Democrats blocked them for years
• Sanctuary city policies championed by his own party deliberately prevented ICE from accessing criminal aliens in custody
• This is classic left-wing gaslighting — create the problem, then act confused when Americans demand solutions

A Maryland Democrat just asked one of the dumbest questions you’ll hear all year — or maybe it wasn’t dumb at all. Maybe it was something worse: deliberate.

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, Rep. Jamie Raskin wondered aloud why Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can’t simply “pick up” illegal aliens from local jails. It’s a reasonable question — if you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade.

The answer is simple: Democrats like Raskin spent years making sure ICE couldn’t do exactly that.

Sanctuary city policies — pushed, funded, and celebrated by the Democratic Party — deliberately cut ICE out of the loop. Liberal mayors and governors across the country passed laws blocking local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. They released criminal aliens back onto American streets rather than hand them over to ICE for deportation.

That wasn’t an accident. That was the plan.

Now Raskin sits in a congressional hearing room, furrowing his brow and acting confused about why the system doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because you broke it, Congressman.

This is textbook left-wing gaslighting. Create a crisis through terrible policy, then pretend to be baffled when the consequences arrive. Block ICE from doing its job for years, then ask why ICE isn’t doing its job.

The American people aren’t buying it anymore.

ICE agents have been begging for cooperation from local jurisdictions for years. They’ve warned repeatedly that sanctuary policies endanger communities by releasing dangerous criminals instead of removing them from the country. Democrats ignored those warnings — and in many cases, they celebrated ignoring them.

Criminal aliens who should have been deported went on to commit more crimes. Innocent Americans paid the price. And now a Democratic congressman wants to play innocent.

It’s not just Maryland. Across the country, blue states and cities have tied ICE’s hands while crime rates climbed and illegal immigration surged. Then those same politicians turn around and blame “the system” for not working.

The system would work fine if Democrats stopped sabotaging it.

President Trump tried to force sanctuary jurisdictions to cooperate with federal immigration law. The left fought him every step of the way — in the courts, in Congress, and in the media. They called it cruel. They called it un-American. They said local cops shouldn’t be doing the federal government’s job.

Fine. Then let ICE do the job without interference. But that’s not what happened either.

Instead, Democrats created a patchwork of obstruction that made it nearly impossible for immigration enforcement to function. And now they want credit for asking why it’s not functioning better.

Raskin’s question wasn’t asked in good faith. It was political theater designed to muddy the waters and shift blame. But the facts are clear, and they’ve been clear for years.

If Congress wants ICE to pick up criminal aliens from jail, then Democrat-run cities need to stop blocking them. It’s that simple.

Wyatt Matters

This is what drives working Americans crazy. Politicians create problems, then show up later pretending to care about fixing them. Raskin and his colleagues spent years turning cities into sanctuaries for criminals, and now they want to act like they don’t understand why enforcement is a mess. The folks in Middle America see right through it. They know who tied ICE’s hands, and they know who’s been fighting to untie them. The truth matters, even when Washington pretends it doesn’t.