At any rate, illegals who have court dates are only a contingent of the full population of people in the country illegally.

Sure. And showing up at the court hearings are only a contingent of the full population of people who are being detained who have done nothing wrong apart from being in the country without authorization (and the still larger population of detainees whose thing they did wrong were minor infractions like traffic violations and whatnot).

The point is that Democrats and leftists aren't objecting to the change in policy because they actively want rapists and murderers to stay in the country. Everyone agrees that rapists and murderers who are here illegally should be deported ASAP. Where Democrats and leftists disagree is the balance of priorities between deporting as many people as quickly as possible (which involves deporting a ton of people who aren't rapists and murderers) vs. targeting for enforcement against people who are rapists and murderers.

BTW - that doesn't mean Democrats and leftists are right. Maybe immigration policy should broader enforcement. All it means is that it's not their goal to have rapists and murderers stay in the country. Their policy is based on other objectives, not a desire to achieve the unintended bad effect. Which is why I responded to LM's rhetorical effort to portray Democrats and leftists as wanting murderers and rapists to stay in the country.

US Policy FAQ

---

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.