MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention theme of “Make America Safe Once Again” was full speed ahead on Tuesday night, where the convention screened an ad tying Vice President Kamala Harris to the border security crisis in an effort to underscore the impact of the Biden-Harris Administration’s failed border policies.
Wisconsin felt the full force of that impact last week, when a brutal stabbing at the hands of an illegal immigrant took the lives of two young girls.
Victor Manual Gomez-Acosta was in the US illegally for years after his work permit expired in 2017, and just this month he was charged with the fatal stabbing of his daughters and attempted murder of his wife in the small, central Wisconsin community of Abbotsford.
ICE has confirmed that Gomez-Acosta, who is currently held on a $1 million bail, will be placed on a detainer, requesting that he be transferred to the ICE for deportation following his release from custody.
The story bears striking similarities to other violent deaths of innocents, particularly minors, at the hands of illegal migrants reported so far this year.
At least Eric Hovde’s campaign thinks so.
A few weeks before the alleged stabbing, Gomez-Acosta was charged with three misdemeanors for a second offense Operating While Intoxicated (OWI), Wisconsin’s version of DUI, on June 17.
He was also charged with operating with a revoked license in May of this year, presumably the result of his first offense OWI.
It is unclear why Gomez-Acosta wasn’t taken into ICE custody for his first offense OWI – something prioritized by both former president Trump and former DHS Secretary under Obama, Jeh Johnson. Joe Biden, on the other hand, has said in the past that he doesn’t see deporting illegal immigrants with DUI’s as a law enforcement priority.
The record of Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Hovde’s Democrat opponent, indicates that she’s ridin’ with Biden on that issue – and 96% of other issues as well.
Baldwin has a long history of supporting paths to citizenship and sanctuary cities, but she’s changed her tune this election year, signing on to a deportation bill for legal and illegal immigrants charged or convicted of violent crimes.
This is a course correction for the 2018-era Baldwin who during the Trump presidency voted against an immigration amendment to the Broader Options for Americans Act, which would have mandated the detention of an alien convicted of any DUI, even as a first offense.
Had that amendment been approved, it could have meant the detention and eventual deportation of Gomez-Acosta before he had a chance to brutally murder his family.
Instead of supporting deportation for DUI’s, one year after voting against the Grassley amendment, Sen. Baldwin sent a joint letter with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to federal immigration officials asking that they “use alternatives to detention” for transgender immigrants.
The Senators also asked the federal immigration officials to reverse the Trump administration policies requiring migrants to Remain in Mexico or to request asylum while passing through third countries, claiming the policies were particularly hard for illegal migrants who were transgender.
Earlier this year, the House passed the Protect Our Communities from DUIs legislation on a bipartisan vote, which would clear up any discrepancies between state and federal law over whether illegal immigrants can remain on US soil after being convicted of DUI charge, The Post previously reported. Sen. Baldwin is not a cosponsor of the Senate version of the bill.
In February, Baldwin voted for a bipartisan border security compromise tied to funding for Ukraine that ultimately failed when Republicans block it.
Baldwin voted against at least three bills or amendments that would have prohibited or put restrictions on sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, including an amendment that would “Ensure that State and local law enforcement may cooperate with Federal officials to protect our communities from violent criminals and suspected terrorists who are illegally present in the United States.”
“If Tammy Baldwin and Joe Biden hadn’t been reckless with our immigration laws and border, if not for their policy failures, these two children might not be dead today,” said Ben Voelkel, Campaign Spokesman for Eric Hovde, Baldwin’s challenger this Fall.
“She needs to answer for her votes and positions,” Voelkel added.
A Remington Research Group poll on July 9th showed Baldwin and Hovde tied for the first time in the race, at 48%, in the days after the swing-state Democrat’s refusal to appear on the stage with Biden in his post-debate appearance her hometown of Madison, Wisc. on July 5.
Baldwin’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.