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Democrats have compassion for everyone—except the victims

Rahm Emanuel committed an increasingly rare act for a Democrat this week: He told his own party the truth.

Speaking about immigration, Emanuel said controlling the border sends a basic message—that people who break the law are not rewarded. He blasted Democrats for losing control of the border and recalled the 2020 presidential debate in which candidates proudly raised their hands to promise government healthcare to illegal immigrants.

“You have American families suffocating under healthcare costs,” Emanuel said, “and you’re talking about free healthcare to people that crossed the border illegally.”

He called it foolish policy and, more importantly, a warped value system.

That is exactly right—which is also why Rahm Emanuel will probably never win a modern Democratic presidential primary. Telling the truth to today’s Democratic Party is a wonderful way to get escorted out of the building.

The consequences of that warped value system are no longer theoretical.

Todd Stewart was 68 years old and enjoying retirement in Martinez, California. He had reportedly lived in his home for roughly four decades and was working on a project in his garage when, prosecutors allege, a burglar entered his property.

Stewart confronted the intruder and was fatally stabbed outside his home.

The man charged with murdering him, Marcos Eduardo Iriarte-Valdez, had already been facing charges related to residential burglaries. He was arrested for allegedly violating his home-detention conditions, then released on his own recognizance on August 5.

Todd Stewart was killed the next day.

Let that timeline sink in.

Arrested for allegedly violating the terms of release. Released again. Accused of killing an American retiree one day later.

According to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, Iriarte-Valdez has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors charged him with murder and added allegations that the killing occurred during a burglary, involved a knife and was committed while he was on conditional release. A judge has now called him a danger to the public and ordered him held without bail.

It is a shame nobody reached that conclusion before Todd Stewart was killed.

The Department of Homeland Security has identified Iriarte-Valdez as an illegal immigrant from Venezuela with Spanish citizenship and says ICE had previously placed a detainer on him. His precise immigration history has drawn questions, but court records confirm that he was released one day before the killing.

The response from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office was an astonishing exercise in passing the buck. His spokesperson said California takes public safety seriously, nothing in state law prevents federal immigration enforcement and ICE should do its job instead of blaming California.

What nerve.

California declares itself a sanctuary, prohibits cooperation, releases an accused repeat burglar despite an alleged violation of home detention—and when a citizen winds up dead, Newsom’s operation points at ICE.

This is not taking public safety seriously. This is political arson followed by a lecture about the fire department’s response time.

The victims of these policies are quickly forgotten because their stories interfere with the approved narrative. When illegal immigrants face deportation, the media introduces us to their relatives, employers, classmates, neighbors and family pets. We hear about their dreams, their contributions and the pain of separation.

When an American is killed by someone who should not have been free, we get a paragraph and a statistical lecture explaining that American citizens commit crimes, too.

Todd Stewart was not a statistic. He was a husband, a father, a neighbor and a retiree who should have been safe inside the home where he had lived for decades.

On a CNN panel, reporter Lydia Moynihan tried to make exactly that point. She asked why the network rarely devotes the same attention to Americans killed by illegal immigrants that it gives to immigration-enforcement operations.

The panel immediately began talking over her.

One guest referred to illegal immigrants as “law-abiding citizens,” caught the mistake and changed it to “law-abiding residents.” Moynihan supplied the obvious response: If someone is residing in the country illegally, “law-abiding” is already doing more work than the English language can support.

But that verbal slip exposed the entire mindset. Illegal immigrants are treated as citizens when Democrats discuss benefits and sympathy, but suddenly become beyond the reach of American law when enforcement begins.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani demonstrated the same upside-down moral hierarchy at a press conference with Gov. Kathy Hochul. Mamdani declared that New Yorkers are “horrified” by ICE and described neighborhoods supposedly feeling the absence of residents who are now afraid to leave their homes.

He rarely speaks with the same passion about citizens afraid to leave their homes because repeat criminals keep getting returned to the streets.

Mamdani then described a Haitian man collapsing upon learning he might have to return to Haiti—or, as it sounded on the tape, attend “high tea.”

I admit that threw me.

I did not realize high tea had become one of the federal government’s more brutal immigration penalties. The Russian Tea Room may have some explaining to do.

Mamdani’s pronunciation gave Rush Hour a needed moment of laughter, but the policy underneath it is serious. Temporary protected status is supposed to be temporary. Democrats have transformed “temporary” into a magic word meaning “until any attempt to end it produces a viral video.”

Hochul followed Mamdani by proudly discussing a new state law restricting cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE. Local police, jails and technology will be placed further beyond the reach of federal immigration authorities for civil enforcement.

Then, almost on cue, came a very different story involving Hochul and the remarkable flow of government money.

Nine social adult daycare centers connected to Flushing reportedly billed Medicaid approximately $49 million while contributing roughly $55,000 to Hochul’s 2022 campaign. Two of the largest facilities appeared virtually empty when journalists visited, although neither the centers nor their operators have been charged with wrongdoing.

An empty daycare billing Medicaid millions while political donations flow to Albany is certainly an innovative business model.

Hochul wants less cooperation with ICE, but apparently New York’s political class remains perfectly capable of cooperating with campaign checks.

CNN, meanwhile, found another immigration-enforcement threat demanding immediate alarm: electrified gloves.

The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering purchasing GLOVE devices—wearable tools capable of delivering an electric shock, similar in concept to a Taser. CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem warned that the equipment could create “intense trouble for the American public” and declared that ICE lies.

The network synonymous with “fake news” warning America that somebody else cannot be trusted was an especially rich moment.

Any law-enforcement device can be misused and should be governed by proper training and rules. But once again, the Left’s instinctive concern was for the person resisting enforcement, not the officers confronting potentially dangerous suspects.

That brings us back to Rahm Emanuel’s observation. This is ultimately not just a dispute about immigration policy. It is a dispute about values.

Who receives the benefit of the doubt?

Who receives protection?

Whose family is invited before the cameras?

And whose name disappears after the next commercial break?

Democrats have built an enormous compassion machine for people who violate immigration law. They have built legal defenses, sanctuary policies, government benefits and an entire media vocabulary designed to remove any stigma from illegal entry.

For victims such as Todd Stewart, they offer statistics, excuses and silence.

That is not compassion. It is moral confusion with a press office.

You can hear the clips, the arguments and the “high tea” detour by listening to the full episode of Bo Snerdley’s Rush Hour here.

Rush Hour airs Monday through Friday and moves quickly through the day’s hottest political stories, breaking developments and media absurdities. It is the fastest hour in American media because the news keeps coming—and somebody has to cut through the excuses.

For the stories and perspectives the legacy media routinely pushes aside, sign up for The Daily BS here. It is free, delivered daily and never requires permission from Gavin Newsom, CNN or the high-tea enforcement squad.