US Falling Back to the 'Time of the Articles Confederation' Over Immigration: Analyst

Borders are Tom Homan's heading to Minnesota and a judge there is weighing a request to halt ice operations in that state. As unrest continues following the two fatal shootings of anti-ice protesters, joining us now is Ammon Blair, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He specializes in border security and immigration policy with over two decades of experience as a U.S. Border Patrol agent and U.S. Army officer. Good to have you with us today, Ammon. We saw Vice President Vance last week in Minnesota calling for calm. Tom Homan is set to arrive there to manage ice operations on the ground, as I've just said. How could Homan being in Minnesota help law enforcement efforts? Great question. Right now he's really Trump's border czar, so leadership really matters in terms of this. He's going to make sure that our law enforcement officials, whether that's going to be Border Patrol as well as ice officers, are working hand in hand with local law enforcement, state law enforcement, and the governor's request. He's going to make sure that the Trump administration is fully aware and is on scene. He's representing President Trump there on the ground itself. So really, it's a kind of a—shows a solidarity with the governor, Tim Walz, as well as the mayor of Minneapolis and other areas within Minnesota, showing that the Trump administration understands that the loss of life is horrible, regardless of the situation, and that he is present there. Yeah, interesting to see those positive comments coming out from the president today about his call as well with Walz, and looking forward to seeing developments there. But meanwhile, within the state, a federal judge is weighing today whether to limit the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Do judges have the power to limit the number of forces deployed to a state? No, ma'am, they do not. This was actually a case that, during the Biden administration, Texas also tried making sure that the Biden administration wouldn't catch and release those—the millions of people coming across our border into the interior. And unfortunately, Texas lost that case. And due to the prosecutorial discretion of then-Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden, in terms of how they conduct immigration enforcement or border security, a state cannot dictate how that is conducted, as the federal government has preemption over immigration law. So the state itself only has the authority to conduct immigration enforcement at the same level, but it is preempted by the federal government. OK. So do you believe, then, that this case is pretty well set? It won't be halted? Ma'am, what they're going to try to do is they'll probably do an injunction to try to halt it. But unfortunately, due to current case law and historical jurisprudence, the state of Minnesota does not have a case. And unfortunately, what we're seeing is a complete nullification of immigration enforcement, not just for Minnesota, but many blue states. Really, we're falling back to the time of the Articles of Confederation, where each state tried to set or had laws in place to set their own admissibility into their own state. And so you're seeing red states versus blue states inside the United States, those who are willing to work with immigration in the federal government and those who are not. And what effect do you see this having if it continues in this direction? Ma'am, you know, that's a great question. You know, it actually started three wars. Benjamin Franklin, during that time period in Pennsylvania, was upset, and he called the people moving in from Connecticut as invaders. You're going to start seeing state versus state as we see that as states like California or other states, that they want to keep their illegal aliens, they want to keep criminals in their public, they want to continue to nullify federal immigration law while other states do not. So it's going to create contention, because no state can really secure their borders from other states. So this is going to turn into some sort of, but not like a Connecticut war that we saw during Benjamin Franklin's time, but we could start seeing state versus state, maybe to include lawfare. I see. OK, so we'll certainly be watching today's events and anything further as it develops. But meanwhile, the CEOs of Minneapolis-based companies are urging de-escalation as well. We heard that earlier in the show. More than 60 of them are taking part in this urging, including Best Buy, Target, 3M, calling on local, state and federal officials to work together. How do you see that and perhaps its effectiveness in weighing in on this tension? Yeah, great question. So we need to take a step back and understand that the reality of the situation on the ground, we have a nationwide network seeking to completely overthrow, subvert, put down or destroy the federal government, specifically immigration enforcement. We have organizations that completely oppose our federal government and their authority, trying to prevent, hinder, delay the execution of any of these immigration laws. So this is a well-organized, well-funded organization, network of organizations that no matter where we go, they're going to continue to follow and try to disrupt ICE. And so any support from governors, elected officials, from law enforcement, the support of these organizations is complete sedition. OK, lastly, Ammon, Senate Democrats are threatening to withhold DHS funding as tensions rise over ICE operations. Your thoughts on that? Yeah, great question. Look, our ICE officers stand at the precipice of or the boundary of American citizenship. Their whole goal is to identify illegal aliens that are found inadmissible either by an immigration judge or they were here illegally in the first place and were not found to be asylum seekers or refugees, then to detain them and to remove them from the United States. Really, at the end of the day, that's their main mission. And so the idea and concept that we must defund immigration enforcement together would completely nullify immigration enforcement across the United States, would completely destroy the whole idea and concept of the difference between a citizen, a legal resident and illegal alien. And if you destroy that citizenship, if you destroy the sovereignty of the individual, then you're going to destroy the sovereignty of the state. Weighty words. Thank you so much for your insights today and your perspective. Ammon Blair, great to speak with you. Thank you, ma'am, for having me.