Producers at CBS, CNN and MSNBC took the time to blur the faces of child rapists, murderers and other violent criminals whose details were posted on signs lining the lawn at the White House last week.
But it was a telling win for the Trump administration—because the media’s narrative of “innocent” illegal immigrants being wronged here only works if the public doesn’t know the details.
That’s why Texas’ efforts to bus illegal immigrants to the blue “sanctuary” cities in recent years was so successful. For New York City, Denver and the District of Columbia, the immigration issue was no longer about faceless abstractions in far-off flyover country. Suddenly, the problems that come with mass migration were both very clear and very present to them.
It worked—illegal immigration leapt to the top of voters’ concerns in the 2024 presidential election. And throughout the chaos of that time, with the Pelosi Coup and Vice President Kamala Harris’ repeated reinventions, Donald Trump never wavered. He pledged to remove the criminal illegal immigrants who are terrorizing U.S. communities.
Now he’s keeping his promises—and keeping the focus on the real criminal illegal immigrants and their real victims.
The Trump administration is right to adopt this strategy as its own. The more the American people know about the criminals being deported, the more they support the deportations.
Still, for its part, CBS was outraged.
“The booking photos, which the White House says show non-citizens in the country illegally, are displayed in a way that they will show up in television appearances by White House journalists and administration officials from the North Lawn,” the outlet reported. “CBS News has not been able to independently verify the White House statements about the individuals in the photos.”
In fact, the White House made sure that enough information was available on each of the cases it highlighted with those signs to confirm the details.
MSNBC had a full-on meltdown.
“They put them up on the driveway of the White House!” one anchor said. “…It’s right directly behind the positions where TV correspondents do their hits from the White House lawn. So no matter what network you’re on, that includes MSNBC, those pictures will be behind you.”
We need this same reminder with sheriffs and local law enforcement across Texas.
Three months ago, the Florida Sheriffs Association announced that every county jail throughout the state had signed a written agreement with ICE to ensure compliance with 287(g) program requirements. The 287(g) program, also known as the Immigrant Enforcement Program, allows local law enforcement to partner with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws. In Florida, every county is working with ICE to ensure there are ICE deputized sheriffs’ deputies and correctional officers in all county jails.
In Texas, not so much. A month after Florida had statewide participation, the legislative chair of the Texas Sheriffs Association gave excuses as to why Texas sheriffs had not done the same, claiming budget constraints and other reasons for not voluntarily participating. Apparently, many Texas law enforcement are only willing to do their jobs when tied to more state funding.
This has caused the Texas Legislature to propose Senate Bill 8, legislation intended to force Texas sheriffs to participate in the ICE 287(g) program, which law enforcement already has authority to do voluntarily.
Maybe instead, we should post signs depicting dangerous serial offenders, repeatedly released back into the community, next to sheriff offices and on the local courthouse lawn. We can name and shame the judges and sheriffs in the nation who refuse to cooperate with ICE to keep our country safe.
ICE cannot do this job alone; it needs the cooperation of local and state law enforcement—including, and especially, in Texas.
Those signs on the White House lawn forced to confront the reality of illegal immigration . Senate Bill 8 could force recalcitrant law enforcement agencies to do the same. And we’ll all be safer for it.