# Conservatives outraged by ICE **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 15, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656 "2025-06-15T14:33:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/21 "2025-06-15T16:11:43Z")
They like having a permanent underclass of brown people to perform their dangerous labor. What they don’t like is a path toward citizenship for them or their children. In a perfect converative world, they’d work until infirm or dead and then the whole family gets shipped back to where they came from. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/22 "2025-06-15T16:18:38Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Agree 100%. My point is some of these people have convinced themselves it’s more about following rules, arbitrary or not. I think that there is also an element of ‘I suffered through it. You should too!’ on behalf of those immigrants who are here legally. When Biden attempted student loan forgiveness, that attitude came out openly and often. ‘I had to pay off this huge loan by myself! These students should too!’ IMO This is rather like letting your toddler stick a paperlcip in an outlet because ‘Nobody stopped me from doing that at your age!’. Yes, it sucks that you had to suffer through a long process to obtain US citizenship. If other immigrants don’t have to suffer through that process, that is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/23 "2025-06-15T16:25:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Just a reminder to all of those saying that immigrants should “wait their turn in line”, or “go through the process”: Most people saying this already know what is going on. That crap is being put out just to stall/deflect. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/24 "2025-06-15T17:05:20Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > When Biden attempted student loan forgiveness, that attitude came out openly and often. ‘I had to pay off this huge loan by myself! These students should too!’ IMO This is rather like letting your toddler stick a paperlcip in an outlet because ‘Nobody stopped me from doing that at your age!’. I have reasons for not favoring loan forgiveness and this isn’t it - it’s because it benefits (future) high earners and does nothing to help people who did not go to college (who will statistically earn much less than those college graduates over their lifetimes) and will further widen the wealth gap. It’s extra benefit to those who are already on much better long-term trajectory. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/25 "2025-06-15T17:14:50Z")
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I didn’t mean to say that everybody who opposed it felt this way. But, a lot of people did and were very open about it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/26 "2025-06-15T17:32:56Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > the conservatives I talk to are quite happy with ICE. They see Trump doing exactly what he promised to do. If anything they are irritated that Trump’s massive deportation plan is getting delayed by activist judges. This is exactly what I’m seeing from the conservatives on NextDoor in my very blue city. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > How irritating is to love the constitution. Whenever I point this out to them, they dance around it. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/27 "2025-06-15T17:49:29Z")
Woe that this thread isn’t in the pit. The policies the OP seems to want: 1. a focus on small minority of immigrants who probably _should_ be deported 2. amnesty for undocumented immigrants who have been contributing society, or some other reasonable approach to the millions of undocumented immigrants already here 3. comprehensive immigration reform to streamline the process thereby encouraging more immigrants to go through legal channels Is the mainstream Democratic position for at least the last 20 years. The GOP has railed against this. And in classic GOP fashion, have never had a workable plan to achieve the “zero illegal immigrants” policy that they’ve yearned for. No plan for finding, legally processing, and humanely deporting millions of people. No plan for immigration reform. No plan for border security that remains in compliance with global treaties, federal law, or sane ethical considerations. There _is_ a simple approach, tried multiple times – crack down hard on employers. But this runs afoul of the GOP’s business interests. So now they’re doing the only other thing that makes sense – continue to scapegoat the immigrants themselves (rather than the systems, both governmental and economic, that have created this situation) and use gestapo tactics to strike fear and cause a mass exodus. At, mind you, the cost of American economic stability and global standing. Anyone who voted R voted for this. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/28 "2025-06-15T18:05:17Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When people talk about deporting criminals, I wonder why you would do that. If someone has engaged in crimes more serious than simply being undocumented, they should be arrested, charged, prosecuted and jailed right here in the United States. They can be deported after that. But just to deport criminals? There is no assurance that they will face justice. The working assumption of the unthinking Right is that we can deport “criminals” without expensive or time consuming trials. Just pick them up and send them “away”. Who cares how many crimes they’ll commit when they’re in some other country. Not our problem. As noted by others between your post and mine, another article of deep-seated RW faith that is actually pure fantasy is that large numbers of professional criminals / gang members are coming here and can be trivially identified by tattoos or whatever. If ICE could just do mass arrests, these folks would be quickly identified and unceremoniously dumped on a jail plane to someplace else and be done with them. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/29 "2025-06-15T18:16:24Z")
Moderating: > [@steronz](#): > > Woe that this thread isn’t in the pit. I don’t know about the Pit, but it certainly belongs in P&E. Moving. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/30 "2025-06-15T18:25:08Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > They like having a permanent underclass of brown people to perform their dangerous labor. What they don’t like is a path toward citizenship for them or their children. In a perfect converative world, they’d work until infirm or dead and then the whole family gets shipped back to where they came from. I think some Middle Eastern countries have a semi-permanent class of immigrant guest workers who are never able to acquire citizenship. I think some have more guest workers than actual citizens. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/31 "2025-06-15T18:48:22Z")
Part of the trick of maintaining a permanent underclass of guest workers is make sure none can bring a family with them. And keep them largely imprisoned on their worksites so the e.g Filipino construction workers building expensive highrises in Dubai never meet the Filipina housemaids who tend to the homes of the wealthy in the recently built highrises. Obviously all of that has no place in a liberal pluralistic society. But the US Right doesn’t want a liberal or pluralistic society. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/32 "2025-06-15T18:52:59Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > We were told they would concentrate on criminals and those with current deportation orders. Trump is usually so truthful, I can’t believe that he _lied_ about his intentions! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/33 "2025-06-15T18:58:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think some Middle Eastern countries have a semi-permanent class of immigrant guest workers who are never able to acquire citizenship. I think some have more guest workers than actual citizens. My father once told me that nobody in UAE works outside, because it’s too hot. But what of all the work that needs to be done outside? Oh, they hire people for that, so that nobody needs to go outside. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/34 "2025-06-15T20:06:33Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > We were told they would concentrate on criminals and those with current deportation orders Part of the issue is, the Steven Millers of the world pitched and sold to Trump and other candidates a scenario of fixing things by expelling a million people a year. The candidates bought into that hook, line and sinker and ran on it, because they were willing to take it on faith, and some including Trump by all appearances DO believe, that there ARE _tens of millions_ of criminal undesirable outsiders on the loose we could just pick up if we had the will to do it. ICE contributes to this mess firstly by being obedient dogs and initially welcoming being “unleashed”, but also by (along with CBP and USCIS) having nobody display the professional ethics and guts to say, “NO Mr. President, Mme. Secretary, we DO NOT HAVE enough known-risk criminals and pending unenforced orders to lawfully process 3,000 people a day on a sustained basis. If the order is just bring in 3,000 bodies per day never mind how, fine, but know that it will make you look bad.” Or maybe someone did and just got canned on the spot for it. POTUS finally had to issue an order to not go out after agriculture and hospitality workplaces, but all that means is now they will intensify the going after construction crews and people _at their immigration case hearings_. Because even now nobody wants to be the one to say “deportations by the millions!” was a dumb plan. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/35 "2025-06-15T20:36:22Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Nearly every conservative I have spoken to is outraged by recent ICE activities and they feel betrayed. We were told they would concentrate on criminals and those with current deportation orders. Then these conservatives you have spoken to are idiots. Trump was very clear what he planned: > **[Analysis: Trump explains his militaristic plan to deport 15-20 million people...](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/politics/trump-immigration-what-matters)** > > It is rare to get major presidential candidates – on either side of the political aisle – outside the confines of prepared remarks, stump speeches and friendly audiences, so it’s worth paying attention when they actually take detailed questions. Why would they feel betrayed? Or do they have the bizarre notion that there are more than 10 million illegal immigrants who are criminals (criminals for other than violating immigration laws)? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/36 "2025-06-15T21:03:57Z")
The most generous interpretation is that they believed (or convinced themselves) there was no way that Miller/Trump/P2025 were just pulling out of thin air that there were tens of millions of dangerous criminal aliens _distinct from the people with irregular status but in the legit workforce or admitted under special forebearances_ – that they surely must have had some sort of reliable source for that claim. That’s a pretty thin straw to grasp but one can imagine the notion that the Republican candidate would deliberately hurt the businesses and families of his own supporters just to make a reckless display of performative viciousness was hard to wrap their minds around. Going back to the thread title, in that sense, yes, the “normal” conservatives as we once knew them, would be outraged by what’s going on, because at least they’d want it done with proper form, by the book, following a sensible plan. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/37 "2025-06-15T21:42:27Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > No plan for finding, legally processing, and humanely deporting millions of people. No plan for immigration reform. No plan for border security that remains in compliance with global treaties, federal law, or sane ethical considerations. None of that is relevant to conservatives, however. It’s easy to identify who "needs " to be deported; just look at their skin tone. There’s no need for the legal process, they are criminals just for existing with the wrong skin tone. And less than no reason to care about “humanely” deporting them; they aren’t _really_ human in the first place after all, they’re members of the inferior, subhuman non-white races. The cruelty is the point, the process is _supposed_ to be as brutal, dehumanizing and terrifying as possible. Deaths and breaking up of families ideally included. And global treaties? “Ink on a page”. What does _America,_ the Chosen Nation of God, care about the opinions of _untermenschen_? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/38 "2025-06-15T23:10:34Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > The most generous interpretation is that they believed (or convinced themselves) there was no way that Miller/Trump/P2025 were just pulling out of thin air that there were tens of millions of dangerous criminal aliens _distinct from the people with irregular status but in the legit workforce or admitted under special forebearances_ – that they surely must have had some sort of reliable source for that claim. Faux et al has been repeating for decades that the borders are uncontrolled and nobody but depraved gangsters are coming in. And doing so by the _millions_. I can recall my Mom in Phoenix becoming terrified that all the nice Hispanic folks she was used to seeing were being overrun and replaced by depraved feral Savadorean MS-13 hoodlums. Mom died in 2006. Limbaugh and Hannity were the ones who filled her head, starting in the late 1990s. The onslaught of racist “open border criminal invasion” propaganda has been running for literally three decades = half an adult lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/39 "2025-06-15T23:57:24Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Then these conservatives you have spoken to are idiots. Trump was very clear what he planned: It’s an unfortunate truth that sometimes when Americans vote for something they’re not voting for what they think they are. A lot of Americans who supported the 18th Amendment were genuinely shocked when the Volstead Act didn’t allow for beer or wine to be manufactured and sold. These people really thought John Barleycorn, rum, and other spirits would be outlawed but good old beer and wine would be safe. Those people must not have been paying attention to the likes of the Anti-Saloon League. I’ve only been paying attention to politics for a little over 30 years now, and in that entire time it seems as though the United States as a whole cannot decide how it feels about illegal immigration. We’re proud of our immigrant history but vilify undocumented workers and pretend they don’t play a vital role in some sectors of our economy. I would love an immigration policy that is humane, recognizes our need for immigrant labor, and makes it easier for them to work here legally. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/40 "2025-06-16T00:20:30Z")
An unfortunate truth is that when people are conditioned to lie to achieve a goal, they will lie to _you_. It has absolutely nothing to do with “right” or “wrong”, and everything to do with winning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656.md?page=3)