President Trump plans to brandish two of his favorite political weapons at the White House today: a phalanx of uniformed law enforcement officers and an angry denunciation of Democrats as a party of lawlessness and open borders.
Trump is expected to hit those themes hard before the November midterm elections in which Democrats are threatening to retake control of the House — in part by emphasizing Trump’s immigration crackdown that resulted in several thousand migrant children being separated from their families on the Southwest border.
Under heavy criticism, Trump ordered a stop to the family separations and a federal judge has sharply criticized the government’s response in reuniting the families.
Trump will try to retake the political initiative Monday by hosting the “heroes” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, which arrests and deports people in the country illegally, and Customs and Border Protection, which is responsible for patrolling on the border.
Before the meeting, he angrily condemned those who criticized ICE operations — and are seeking its elimination.
“Tragically, the brave men and women of ICE have recently been subjected to a nationwide campaign of smears, insults, and attacks by politicians shamelessly catering to the extreme elements of our society that desire lawlessness and anarchy,” he wrote.
Democrats have used Trump’s harsh immigration crackdown — and the symbolism surrounding an agency despised by some on the left for workplace raids and widespread reports of sexual and physical abuse in ICE detention facilities — to build enthusiasm among core supporters and activists.
But establishment Democrats worry that calls by some progressives in the party to abolish ICE, which has more than 20,000 employees, could backfire in…
