Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's AM Joy on MSNBC, allegedly right-leaning Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin declared that the incoming Donald Trump administration's talk of dealing with the illegal immigration problem is "nothing but extreme racism" and an "outrage," as she complained that too much of the focus has been on Hispanics crossing the border from Mexico, rather than visa overstays which include immigrants from other continents.
Even though focusing on a border where there exists problems of crime, illegal drug running, and human smuggling across the desert which also harms those trying to cross illegally, as opposed to people who undergo screening and an orderly process of entering on visas, Rubin played the racism card as she complained:
This is nothing but extreme racism. The largest problem we have with illegal immigration is not with people who have come over the border, it's people who have overstayed their visas. Many of those people -- not all of them -- but many from Asia and from other countries, they have to come by air, they have to come by boat to get through the system. Why is he not talking about any of them? This is all focused on Hispanics who have come through the border at one time or another -- some of them 10, 15, 20 years ago.
She added:
And I think it's time for people of good common sense to say, "Listen, why don't we start really where the problem is?" The Federal Government has the names of these people who are on overstayed visas. Why don't they go do something about it if they're so concerned about illegal immigration? I think this is an outrage. I think it's going to be politically a time bomb for them. And, quite frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen.
Rubin's comments came during a discussion of the possibility that the Trump administration will put economic pressure on sanctuary cities to comply with federal immigration laws.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, November 20, AM Joy on MSNBC:
11:09 a.m. ET
JOY REID: This would be, sort of a sneaky, Jennifer Rubin, backdoor way of defunding some major Democratic-run cities. You've got cities like New York, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Chicago. This, in a theory, would be a way for a Trump administration to strip potentially billions of dollars from cities that are run by Democrats which, I can only imagine, the loss in funding could create even more problems and exacerbate problems in housing and crime by taking vital funds away from those cities potentially.Talk a little bit about the politics of what the optics of this would look like, Jennifer Rubin. If you do have mass arrests, if you have the NYPD and the LAPD -- which the LAPD said they won't do it -- being forced to go in and pretend to be ICE agents and sort of play immigration agent. What does that do politically to the Republican party, Jennifer?
JENNIFER RUBIN, WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST: First of all, the Republican party that I knew used to be in favor of the Constitution. And the Constitution says that the Federal Government cannot physically -- cannot by overwhelming economic pressure to force the states to do something. That's why the portion of Obamacare regarding Medicaid was struck down. This is just doing the same thing. Republicans were against this when the President was doing it. Now, with Donald Trump, they want to do it.
Local and state officials have discretion to enforce the laws. They can prioritize, just as we were just talking about, maybe crime, actual crime is a higher priority. So -- I don't think they can legally do this. I think it would create havoc, and, you know what, Republicans live in those cities and those states as well. He took Ohio as one of his key states that has Columbus, that has Cleveland,that has a whole bunch of big cities in there. Is he really going to turn around and defund those cities?
But I want to make another point. This is nothing but extreme racism. The largest problem we have with illegal immigration is not with people who have come over the border, it's people who have overstayed their visas. Many of those people -- not all of them -- but many from Asia and from other countries, they have to come by air, they have to come by boat to get through the system. Why is he not talking about any of them? This is all focused on Hispanics who have come through the border at one time or another -- some of them 10, 15, 20 years ago.
And I think it's time for people of good common sense to say, "Listen, why don't we start really where the problem is? The Federal Government has the names of these people who are on overstayed visas. Why don't they go do something about it if they're so concerned about illegal immigration? I think this is an outrage. I think it's going to be politically a time bomb for them. And, quite frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen.
