Rantz: WA Dem Saldaña spread lie about SCOTUS ICE ruling, screams ‘racism’ anyway

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña (D-Seattle) blasted out a statement after the Supreme Court ruled in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, striking down restrictions that had tied ICE’s hands in Los Angeles. Saldaña painted the ruling as an endorsement of racial profiling. But that’s not what the Court ruled. In fact, Justice Brett Kavanaugh went out of his way to say the opposite of what Saldaña claimed.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling expands ICE’s authority in ways that put communities at risk,” Saldaña  wrote. “By allowing detentions based on race, ethnicity, language, or work type, this decision effectively legalizes racial profiling. It does not make our neighborhoods safer — it puts our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones in harm’s way simply because of what they look like or do for a living.”

This sounds terrifying. But good news: it’s patently false.

Not a single assertion she made was true. Either Saldaña didn’t bother to read the decision, or she’s deliberately ginning up fear among her base.

Don’t let Democrats lie about SCOTUS ruling

Justice Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion couldn’t be clearer. He even uses language intended to connect address inevitable bad faith claims from people like Saldaña who, he should have known, were going to ignore him anyway: “To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered with other salient factors.”

In other words, no, ICE agents can’t just detain someone because of their race.

The Supreme Court reaffirmed long-standing precedent that reasonable suspicion must be based on the “totality of the circumstances.” That means things like location, behavior, or context matter. If ICE agents find someone standing in a known day-laborer site, unable to speak English, and admitting they’re looking for cash work, agents are legally allowed to ask questions about immigration status. That’s not “legalizing racial profiling.” That’s common sense law enforcement.

Ignoring the context

Saldaña’s hysterics conveniently ignore another section of Kavanaugh’s opinion.

“If the officers learn that the individual … is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go. If the individual is illegally in the United States, the officers may arrest the individual and initiate the process for removal,” Kavanaugh wrote.

That’s how enforcement works. If you’re here legally, you walk away. If you’re not, ICE does its job. Democrats like Saldaña want you to believe that ICE agents are stormtroopers dragging people off buses just for speaking Spanish. In reality, they’re targeting those who are breaking the law — something Democrats once pretended to care about.

Claiming ‘racism’ to justify political fearmongering

The Radical Left’s game plan is to delegitimize law enforcement by crying “racism” at every turn. They know the word alone is enough to get sympathetic coverage from Seattle Times editorials and national media. It’s also a convenient distraction from the real issue — that Washington Democrats support policies making it easier for illegal immigrants to come and stay here, from banning cooperation with ICE to offering taxpayer-funded benefits.

Saldaña bragged in her statement about Washington’s 2019 “Keep Washington Working Act,” which bars local law enforcement from working with ICE. She touted how Democrats expanded civil service eligibility for immigrants, created sentence reviews to shield them from deportation, and banned workplace “coercion” tied to immigration status. She calls this Washington’s “values.”

But what she really means is that Democrats put the interests of those here illegally above the safety and sovereignty of American citizens.

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