A Republican congressman for Central Illinois said he thinks President Trump's immigration policy has largely been a success.
Darin LaHood, whose district includes portions of Bloomington-Normal and Greater Peoria, said the administration has secured the southern border and reduced illegal crossings by 98%. He said cooperation from the Mexican government has also improved. LaHood also praised the administration priority of arresting criminals.
“That has been a success, also, of focusing on people that are currently in our federal and state jails, that have been convicted, that are illegal immigrants, sending them back to their country of origin, whether that's Venezuela, whether that's El Salvador, whether that's Guatemala. That has been, I think, working well,” LaHood said in an interview on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
He expressed reservations about some enforcement activities in urban areas such as Minneapolis and Chicago.
“I don't think the optics have been very good,” said LaHood.
WGLT asked whether arresting children is focusing on the worst of the worst. There have been allegations federal agents used a 5-year-old boy as bait to knock on a door and get it to open. LaHood cast doubt on the account.
“Depending on the facts and circumstances that you believe on that, it seems like the father or parent of that 5-year-old was using his child as a diversion or as some type of leverage to avoid being arrested,” said LaHood.
LaHood said the government does need "to be cautious about the perception of arresting children and taking them away from their parents.
"But when you've had upwards of 11, 12 million people that came into the country illegally over the prior four years in the administration, I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done," said LaHood.
LaHood said he thinks adding body cameras to federal immigration agents and an investigation into the killings of two protestors in Minneapolis are positive steps that will help hold law enforcement accountable. LaHood said he approves of pulling 700 Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] and border patrol agents out of Minnesota.
“I think we're headed in the right direction in terms of some of those problems we've seen in the past,” said LaHood.
LaHood said he does have concerns about a memo from the head of ICE saying agents don't need a warrant to enter homes. LaHood acknowledged Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure but said it's complicated.
“There are exigent circumstances that allow for police to not use a warrant. But I think you have to have a proper balance with our constitution," said LaHood.
Some of those complicating factors, LaHood said, include people who are fleeing from enforcement, who have a criminal record, who are “here illegally who do not have the same rights as us.”
Some constitutional scholars have noted the Fourth Amendment applies to non-citizens as well as citizens.
Foreign policy
Early last year LaHood backed what the administration and the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] were doing to cut the U.S. Agency for International Development's [USAID] U.S. health efforts in Africa. He cited the budget deficit and the national debt that has now climbed close to $38 trillion. Yet in the intervening year, government spending has risen. LaHood largely stood by last year’s words.
“There was plenty of things that have been put in place at USAID that I believe needed to be cut, and making government more efficient, more effective, more accountable, was the right thing to do,” said LaHood.
He said those dollars have been reallocated under Secretary of State Marco Rubio to be more in line with U.S. priorities.
“I think it’s a much better approach. That is still a work in progress…I think it's probably too early to tell on the effectiveness of that, but I think, like any administration, they have the right to do that, and we ought to give them a chance to see how that works,” said LaHood.
LaHood has talked in the past about the importance of maintaining U.S. soft power.
LaHood rejected the idea that the USAID cuts to malaria and AIDS health spending constituted a withdrawal of soft power efforts in Africa at a time the region is being contested by China.
“The biggest federal program is PEPFAR, started under George W. Bush. That continues to be funded at full levels. That's had the biggest effect on health in Africa, on AIDS in particular,” said LaHood.
He acknowledged the U.S. has reduced programs related to other issues in the region related to water, hygiene and disease.
“We're looking for others to step up in the private sector and European countries to do that,” said LaHood.
He said the U.S. is in an “existential battle with China as it relates to third world countries and Africa,” and said the U.S. needs to win that strategic competition.
“But I think there are other ways to do that,” said LaHood.
He acknowledged Congress and the administration have not reined in spending and need to do more on that issue.
“I think it has to be a balance between a robust economy that's bringing in more taxpayer money and also focusing on fiscal responsibility. And clearly, we haven't been able to do that at the levels we need to."
Greenland
The Prime Minister of Canada recently responded to administration rhetoric on acquiring Greenland by saying, in effect, the U.S. can't be trusted as it once was as an ally and that other nations need to depend more on themselves.
A foreign policy expert at Illinois State University suggested there has been long-term damage done to the U.S. network of alliances. LaHood disagreed.
“We are the number one supporter of NATO. We fund them at about a third of their budget. We have been there at every level to support our NATO allies. We continue to be a strong partner with NATO. And in Congress, a co-equal branch of government, most members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, support being part of NATO and abiding by those obligations and responsibilities,” said LaHood.
LaHood praised President Trump’s retreat from threats of military force to take Greenland.
“[We] will try to negotiate that. I think that kind of ended that conversation, and in my view, it was the right decision,” said LaHood.
He noted the U.S. is still the number one supporter of Ukraine, even as the President pushes NATO to do more.
“I think that's part of him being unconventional. But I'm not concerned about NATO breaking up or the U.S. not being an ally,” said LaHood.
