Elizabeth Warren: Crossing the Border Illegally Should Not Be a Criminal Offense

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) does not believe it should be a criminal offense to cross the border illegally, she said during an interview with the California Nation podcast, which was posted Monday.

While the presidential candidate hit a number of issues during the broad discussion, Section 1325 of the immigration code, which makes it a criminal offense for people to cross the border illegally, became a highlight.

“Are you in favor of repealing that?” she was asked.

“I am,” Warren said, arguing that “criminalizing” illegal entry does not make people safer.

“I think that the whole notion of criminalizing the approach to coming across the border without documentation is not making anybody any safer. We just need to be in a different position on this,” she said, downplaying the number of criminals and drug traffickers who take advantage of the porous border.

“It’s really important on immigration that we concentrate our resources on the people who pose threats to us, and that’s not children,” she continued.

“It’s not mamas fleeing terror from gangs down in Central America. It’s not people trying to build a life who have family here,” she added:

Recent U.S. Customs and Border Protection data revealed that two caravans that arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, in October 2018 and January 2019, included “1,520 previously deported illegal aliens who had been convicted of crimes in the U.S.,” Breitbart News reported.

Of those:

• Four were convicted of murder
• Nearly 30 were convicted of sex crimes
• More than 60 had been convicted for assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
• Two were convicted of violence against law enforcement officials

That data only reflects the illegal aliens from those two caravans alone.

There are countless stories of illegal alien crime, although many of the stories are largely ignored by the establishment media.

In January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 100 immigration violators in New York. The vast majority of the illegal aliens were convicted criminals.

Breitbart News reported:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) made 188 arrests from January 14-18. Of those arrested, 107 were convicted criminals or facing charges, and 55 failed to leave the country after a final order of removal or were previously removed and returned to the U.S.

The following month, a story emerged of an illegal alien mother of nine, Celia Ruiz-Ochoa, who ran a massive drug trafficking ring after settling in the states and passed it down to her son in 2016. She is serving 17 years in federal prison:

Federal authorities say Ruiz-Ochoa often trafficked the drugs into the U.S. by air and by land. She was so successful that she rose to the top of an international drug trafficking ring which contributed to the opioid crisis in Ohio, WCPO reported Thursday.

Additionally, the majority of working-class Americans say current immigration policies are driving up crime in the U.S.

Breitbart News reported:

The latest Gallup survey finds that among Americans with less than a college degree, more than one-in-two, or 51 percent, said immigration to the U.S. has made crime across the country worse. About 41 percent said immigration has not had much impact on crime, and only seven percent said immigration has decreased crime.

Overall, more Americans say immigration is driving up crime than those who say immigration is decreasing crime. About 42 percent of Americans said immigration makes crime worse, while about 50 percent said immigration has no impact on crime. Only seven percent of Americans believe immigration decreases crime.

The “criminal offense” topic bubbled up during the recent Democrat debate, with former HUD Secretary Julián Castro (D) hitting Beto O’Rourke (D) over his purported support of Section 1325.

“Let’s be very clear. The reason that they’re separating these little children from their families is that they’re using Section 1325 of that act, which criminalizes coming across the border to incarcerate the parents and then separate them,” Castro said on the debate stage.

“Some of us on this stage have called to end that section, to terminate it. Some, like Congressman O’Rourke, have not,” he continued. “And I want to challenge all of the candidates to do that.”

Voters can add Warren – a top tier Democrat candidate – to the list of candidates who support decriminalizing illegal entry into the United States.