Once in a while, Chris Matthews deviates from the extreme liberalism that has captured the left, exemplified by the abolish-ICE talk so in vogue among liberals.
On Monday evening's Hardball, Matthews took a surprisingly firm stance on immigration, actually siding more with Adolfo Franco of the RNC than with Neera Tanden, head of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress.
Noting that there are "two-thirds of a billion" people living in poverty in South America who would like to emigrate to the United States, Matthews acknowledged that "at some point, there's going to have to be enforcement."
When Franco said that seeking employment is not a basis for asylum, Matthews agreed: "I know that: that's the law."
When Tanden accused President Trump of demagoguing the issue, Matthews retorted: "So you're saying, I guess, let them in, let them in."
Will Matthews be lambasted by the left for failing to advocate open borders? In any case, not to worry: not one of the 2020 Dem presidential contenders will take this kind of semi-reasonable line. Because remember: they're not illegals, they're just undocumented Dem voters:
MATTHEWS: There's a lot of poverty south of our border. All the way down to Tierra del Fuego, there's two-thirds of a billion people living down there. A lot of them are poor, desperately poor. Living in countries where there's no freedom at all, and danger. So how do we regulate honestly, in an American way, acceptance of asylum seekers? How do we develop a profound, comprehensive immigration policy that we are proud of as Americans to enforce? Because at some point there is going to have to be enforcement.
(....)
FRANCO: I do a lot of Spanish television, and I see these interviews and they're heart breaking. There are people looking for jobs. That's not a basis to seek political asylum.
MATTHEWS: I know that. That's the law.
(....)
TANDEN: His whole focus is actually not to solve this problem. It's to demagogue the issue --
MATTHEWS: So you're saying, I guess, let them in, let them in, give them asylum processing.
