Jonathan Fahey Warns Abolishing ICE Would Mean “Total Chaos” at the Border

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Transcript:

Rich Zeoli: Jonathan Fahey is here, former acting ICE director and former federal prosecutor. He’s on social media at John for Fairfax. Fahey, I just saw you were on America Reports, man. You’re everywhere these days. How are you doing, brother?

Jonathan Fahey: I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.

Rich Zeoli: Absolutely. I saw your interview with John–and I guess it was Jackie Heinrich filling in today for Sandra–so you were talking about the Democrats’ push for open borders. I want to play a clip for you and get your take on this. This is Megan Romer, who’s the head of the Democratic Socialists of America, when she was talking to Shannon Bream back in July. I want to play two clips for you. Let’s start with cut number one.

AUDIO CLIP: To abolish ICE, would there be any enforcement of immigration laws?

With abolishing the border, we’re not enforcing immigration laws. They go away.

Yeah, so, again, this is part of this longer-term plan, and part of it includes–but if you can get there. Yeah, I mean, if we can get to the place where the U.S. is not destabilizing countries in order to mine them for resources, there will be significantly less migration.

Rich Zeoli: All right, I’m going to leave that last part out of it, Jonathan. Let me just ask you about the part about abolishing ICE. I mean, you would know better than me, but it seems like if you don’t have ICE, there’s no way to enforce deportations. Therefore, everybody who’s in the country illegally gets to stay. Could that be part of their bigger plan?

Jonathan Fahey: Yeah, it seems like that’s really part of their plan, and they don’t really even hide it that much anymore–that they want the illegal aliens to stay and they want them to vote.

And the other thing is, you hear these Democrats a lot saying, “Well, we’re in favor of a secure border. We just don’t like what ICE is doing.” Well, you can’t have both. They’re intertwined.

So if you basically don’t have ICE, then people are going to be flooding over the border because they know the second they get here and set foot on American soil, they will be, in essence, de facto citizens. So it would be just total chaos.

Which, I hate to say it, but I think that’s what the Democrats actually want. They want basically Biden on steroids, which, you know, that seems to be the way the party is going.

And it’s really kind of shocking that the more radical Democrats are saying this, but the other Democrats that are considered mainstream now are still completely extreme on the immigration issue. They don’t even support deporting criminals that are in the country–meaning illegal aliens that commit additional crimes against Americans. They want to keep them in the country, and that’s a mainstream Democrat position.

But yeah, this whole thing is, you know, when does it end? Maybe just when we become a third-world country and no one wants to come here anymore. But other than that, it just seems like it would be absolutely devastating.

Rich Zeoli: And I think when you look at their ideas to abolish the Electoral College, for example, and then you have all these millions of people who they can’t deport, and they’re here and they become citizens, they become voters, they become Democrat voters–I mean, this is the long-term plan here.

Absolutely, Jonathan Fahey. And I don’t think you can separate the two when you hear guys like Andy Beshear say we’ve got to abolish the Electoral College, and he’s supposed to be a so-called mainstream Democrat.

So you hear some Democrats say, “I want secure borders. I forget, I think it was Ro Khanna who said this over the weekend. I want to secure borders, so I support Border Patrol, but I don’t support ICE. So I want to get rid of ICE.”

So that basically then says the quiet part out loud: Everybody who’s here gets to stay. Ultimately, you get the vote, and ultimately you get to vote for Democrats. And ultimately, you help Democrats win the popular vote. And since there’s no Electoral College, you help elect Democrats to the White House.

Jonathan Fahey: Exactly. And you get rid of the Supreme Court, and you get rid of the Senate, in essence, because I’m sure the next step would be, “Well, we can’t just have two senators for each state, because that’s not fair to the other states,” just like the Electoral College is unfair. It’s the same principle.

So everything just falls apart.

And, you know, it’s interesting. If you look at this–and I think we all know, and most of the listeners know–the Democrats fight harder against voter ID than on any issue. They will give up anything other than voter ID, which is just astonishing if you think about it, because they always say there’s no cheating and everything. And if that were the case, this would be the easiest thing for them to give up, right? Say, “Well, there’s no cheating anyway. Of course we’ll give you a voter ID.”

But it’s funny, they will fight that harder than any other issue.

And these things all come together. It’s bringing lots of illegals, letting them get voting, or formally amnestizing them and making them citizens and getting them voting.

But they believe they get 70% of illegal aliens plus voting for them, and it’s their long-term play. And they basically traded the middle class, the working class, for illegal alien voters. And that’s the play they’ve made, because everything they push benefits illegal aliens.

They never do anything that helps the middle class, the working class, which is who they always claim they stand for.

Rich Zeoli: You know, Jonathan, my state of New Jersey, as you know, had that little software glitch–and I’m using air quotes for that–where 6,600 non-citizens registered to vote. Four hundred ultimately ended up voting. The numbers are probably higher, but that’s what they’re telling us now.

A big part of the reason why is because the former governor, Phil Murphy, said, “We’re gonna have driver’s licenses for illegals.” And at the same time, that’s where you also get registered to vote.

So, you know, that’s also the kind of thing you could say is a glitch, but it’s certainly a glitch that seems to favor Democrats.

Jonathan Fahey: Yeah, glitches and things like that are always, you know, always favor Democrats, or things in the news that come out a certain way against Republicans. Just coincidentally, they always unfold a certain way.

But I think the biggest issue with New Jersey–and I think the Democrats and the media have done a good job of hiding it–is they’re trying to portray this as just a certain number of illegals that were part of this glitch.

They never talk about the real issue, which is the illegal alien honor system, which is our voting system. All you have to do if you’re an illegal alien is get your driver’s license, claim you’re an American citizen, and you get to vote. And there’s no way to check up on that.

And when the federal government tries to check up on that, again, they fight it tooth and nail.

So that’s the real issue: the unknown number of illegal aliens that just decide, “Well, hey, if you’re here getting every other benefit, why not check off the voting benefit, too?”

And there’s nothing to enforce that. There are no safeguards when people say they’re a citizen to check it off, to look for verification.

And that’s sort of almost gotten lost in this issue because that’s probably–I can’t even imagine–I’m sure tenfold the number, at least, in that category.

Rich Zeoli: Jonathan Fahey is with me, former acting ICE director and former federal prosecutor. Those are some really staggering numbers that you break down for us, Jonathan.

And, you know, as you think about that and you think about the Democratic National Committee officially approving a resolution saying they want to abolish ICE, so it’s not just outliers in the party–it’s now official party policy.

And then you’ve got, again, more mainstream Democrats, like in New York, Kathy Hochul uniting with Zohran Mamdani against ICE, pledging legal funding for migrant children.

So they’re playing the child card here to say, you know, ICE is cruel. ICE is mean. We’ve heard this now so many times, but I guess they think it works for them.

Jonathan Fahey: Yeah, I think they think it works for them. And again, this is complete nonsense.

Whenever it’s the children involved, there’s never any of this, “Well, why are there children coming to our border?” Because you have Democrats encourage that, or their families encourage that.

So who’s really responsible for this?

And this idea that if you come here illegally and bring children with you, you should somehow get to stay in our country and become a citizen is really not only insane, but it’s entirely unworkable other than under the Democrat system.

But yeah, it’s good that you brought up Kathy Hochul because she’ll say things like, “I don’t support defunding ICE.”

But remember, 7,000 people that ICE had detainers on last year–people that committed crimes in New York–she released them back into the community rather than turn them over to ICE. And she’s fought against, she’s eliminated, the 287(g) program, which would allow localities to basically turn over criminals to ICE.

So everything she has done has made it basically hard–or, in the best-case scenario for her, impossible–to deport people.

But she’s trying to walk this line that she’s somehow not against defunding or that she’s not in favor of defunding ICE.

But it really is the same thing. It’s de facto defunding or preventing them from doing their job.

So, you know, there is no mainstream Democrat left anymore, save John Fetterman. They all want mass amnesty for everyone here, and they want to reopen the border.

And if they get power again in 2028, you look out, because they’re going to be coming–even as we saw from Biden when they were coming over. We’re in the Biden-Harris shorts, remember? When Biden was elected, it was insane.

But all the illegal aliens know the Democrats win, they will get amnesty.

Rich Zeoli: Yeah, they will. They will get amnesty. No doubt about that.

Jonathan Fahey is with me. It’s great to have him on the show today.

So, you know, as we think about that, then I’m going to play a clip for you. This is Tom Homan talking about the success of ICE right now. And it’s like every time he comes out and talks about the success, you know that they’re just ready to then do something to try to make ICE look bad.

I do believe the majority of Americans still support ICE. And that’s why President Trump won all seven swing states in the Electoral College, because they–you know, we do want secure borders in this country. We’re a nation of laws. We do want that.

But every time there’s good statistics out, whether it’s lower crime, as Kash Patel talked about–and I’ll get your thoughts on that in a second–or it’s the success of ICE, they come out and they try to deliberately do something to make ICE look bad.

So here’s Tom Homan, Cut 41.

HOMAN CLIP: If they look at the results of what ICE has done, right? Record numbers of arrests, deportations. In June, ICE arrested more illegal aliens than any time in the history of the agency. July, we blew June out of the water. August is going to be the same thing.

And people need to remember, just short of 70% of everybody we arrest is a criminal. So we’re removing hundreds of thousands of criminals from their neighborhoods to make their neighborhoods safe again.

But they can have an answer to the revolution in ICE.

Okay, ICE just found 151,000 missing children that were smuggled during the Biden administration. They lost track of them. Some of these children were victims of sex trafficking. Some were forced into labor.

Rich Zeoli: Some of them were sex trafficked and forced into labor. Jonathan, how come we don’t hear more about that from the left? They never seem to care about the victims of human trafficking. They never seem to care about these kids.

I mean, the Biden administration, The New York Times reported what? I mean, like over 400,000 kids that had gotten missing. This administration’s done a great job of trying to find those children, but I just don’t hear the advocates out there asking any of those questions.

Jonathan Fahey: Yeah, because we know they don’t care. And that really just brings up sort of their hypocrisy when they’re talking about families being separated and things like that.

It’s like there are hundreds of thousands of people that they let in the country, put them with sponsors that they didn’t know who they were and didn’t verify, knowing that a significant number would have ended up victims of crime.

They didn’t care, and nor will they ever care.

It’s just the same thing. If you look at Lake and Riley and Sheridan Gorman, the left never says anything about that. They won’t even dignify these crime victims that lost their daughters because it doesn’t fit their narratives.

I mean, remember, like, J.B. Pritzker took, like, I think four or five days to give some generic, platitudinal condolence to Sheridan Gorman’s family after getting public pressure.

But when it’s the other side, when it is something that ICE does bad, they don’t take 10 seconds to look at the facts before they get out there and make a statement.

And I think it all just comes down to what we all know is their agenda: massive illegal immigration, massive amnesty, and they couldn’t care less if their victims are involved in it, whether they’re sex trafficked or anything else.

Their greater goal, the end justifying the means, is that mass amnesty agenda.

And it’s just shocking how little they care and how many people have been harmed and will be harmed for them to achieve it.

Rich Zeoli: Yeah, I think that is such a great point that you make. I mean, they just–they don’t care about these victims. It really is heartbreaking.

I’ve got to ask you. I want to switch gears just a little bit because there was an announcement by the Attorney General, Todd Blanche, the final rule to restore federal firearm rights for people who had been convicted of a crime or were prohibited from possessing firearms.

They’re able to apply for restoration of their federal firearm rights, the Attorney General saying, “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and the federal government should not permanently deprive Americans of a constitutional right without regard to whether they possess or pose a danger to public safety.”

I think this is a big win for the Second Amendment. It’s a big one for liberty, and certainly, you know, if you committed a crime and you paid for that, you should be able to get your rights back, in my opinion.

Jonathan Fahey: Yeah, I agree with you. And, you know, a lot of states do this as well.

And I think President Trump, looking at this issue and looking at pardon issues, sort of commutation issues generally, people should get the opportunity, once they’ve paid their debt and they’re no longer a danger, they should get the opportunity to reintegrate themselves in society.

And generally, it’s funny, Democrats a lot of times agree with that, but then when it comes to the Second Amendment, they don’t.

But yeah, if somebody is safe, they’ve paid their debt for whatever their crime was, it does seem perfectly reasonable to allow them to, again, get fully integrated back into society and get the rights and the responsibilities they have as part of that.

Rich Zeoli: Yeah, and I’ll just make a point that there are some categories where you can’t get your rights back. You cannot: violent felons, registered sex offenders, illegal aliens, and others who present an ongoing danger.

I mean, again, common sense, right?

Jonathan Fahey: Exactly. Yes, common sense, and it’s good for society.

You don’t want people that are, you know, permanently like–you know, I think what the quote you played about, or you discussed, was, you know, second-class citizens or second-class rights.

It’s like this is a right as an American, and you should be able to get that again.

And again, look at this administration. Look how much, you know, I think you’re alluding to how much crime has gone down. They’re very focused on crime and safety. They’ve done a great job on it.

So I don’t think this will make anyone less safe by doing so.

Rich Zeoli: Jonathan Fahey, former acting ICE director and former federal prosecutor. Follow him at John for Fairfax.

Thanks, my friend. Appreciate it.