OLDCORN: Trump’s immigration crackdown is warranted — Biden and Obama created the mess

The fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation has become a national flashpoint in the United States. Federal officials say the agent fired in self-defence. Minneapolis leaders say the public story from Washington does not match what video appears to show, and they are demanding a transparent probe. Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has also publicly said it cannot access key evidence and urged federal authorities to share materials so a full investigation can proceed. Canadians watching from north of the border should care for two reasons. .BURTON: Why people are leaving Canada — a country testing the limits of decline.First, any use of deadly force by government agents must be reviewed with rigour, and public trust depends on openness. Second, this tragedy lands in the middle of a wider fight over the basic idea of border enforcement, and that fight did not start last week.In fact, the path to today’s illegal immigration crackdown runs through Democrat politics stretching from the Obama years to the Biden years. Not because either president ordered anything like the Minneapolis operation, but because their approach and messaging helped normalize a dangerous idea that strong border controls are optional.That attitude has consequences..For years, Democrats leaned into a rhetoric-first approach. They spoke about compassion and dignity but too often treated enforcement as an embarrassment. Over time, that messaging filtered down to cities, advocacy groups, and even federal agencies. The result was a public sense that the system was not being run with discipline. When a government signals that rules are flexible, people respond accordingly. So do smugglers and fraud networks.Then came the numbers..WELLS: Old World or New World — whose side are we on?.In December 2023, US Customs and Border Protection reported 249,785 “encounters” at the southwest land border between ports of entry for that month alone. The figure became a symbol of strain, and not just for Americans who already disliked illegal immigration. It also alarmed many legal immigrants and working families who could see housing, schools, and healthcare capacity under pressure.Biden did not ignore enforcement entirely. His administration rolled out new restrictions and pathways over time, including a 2024 proclamation and related measures that suspended and limited entry for certain migrants when encounter levels were high. .But the overall record remained messy with repeated shifts in rules, courtroom fights, policy pivots, and a communications strategy that often sounded like scolding the public instead of reassuring it.A “system” cannot be sustained on moral lectures. It needs consent. And consent requires order.This is where Obama’s legacy also matters. His administration embedded a political framework inside the Democratic Party that enforcement is tolerated only if it is quiet, and any visible action is framed as cruelty. .JÄGER: A secular nation has no business funding religious animal slaughter.Obama’s worldview shaped activists, media coverage, and Democratic politicians who later insisted that “enforcement” itself was the problem, rather than weak policy design and weak follow-through. The result was years of cultural pressure against the idea of removal, detention, and screening — all core functions of a state.When enforcement is culturally delegitimized, two things happen. First, non-compliance rises because the perceived risk drops. Second, backlash builds because ordinary people conclude they are being gaslit. That backlash does not typically produce calm, targeted reforms. It produces hard resets..Enter Trump.Whatever one thinks of Trump’s rhetoric, the underlying logic of a crackdown is straightforward. If a country cannot control illegal entry, it cannot fairly run legal immigration, asylum, or temporary worker programs. Without credible consequences, the legal stream becomes a sucker’s game. People who follow the rules are punished, while those who cut the line are rewarded.That is why Trump’s enforcement push is warranted. Not because every tactic is perfect, or because every arrest is wise, or because tragedies like Minneapolis should be brushed aside. This is justified because the alternative is precisely what disrupts systems..MACLEOD: The great betrayal — the Laurentian elite’s war on Alberta’s north-south axis.Reporting around the Minneapolis operation underscores how heated the environment has become. After Good’s death and days of protests, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said “hundreds more” federal officers would be sent to Minnesota, citing safety concerns for ICE and Border Patrol. The Washington Post has reported on the rise of citizen “ICE watcher” groups and the legal tensions around monitoring and interference, a sign that immigration enforcement is now a street-level confrontation, not just a policy debate. That is not healthy. But it is also not accidental..This is what happens when leaders spend years signalling that borders do not really matter, then act surprised when trust collapses. Biden and Obama helped build that climate, and they helped push their party into a posture that treated enforcement as an apology instead of a duty. The public saw the results. They voted for a correction. Now the correction is here.The serious work, now, is to make sure enforcement is lawful, disciplined, and accountable. Investigate the Minneapolis shooting thoroughly. Share evidence with state investigators. Publish clear rules on use of force. Reduce the need for chaotic street encounters by restoring a credible, orderly border regime upstream..SOLWAY: Where science and faith come together — in search of a new grand unified theory.If policymakers want fewer confrontations, they should stop pretending that enforcement is optional. The law is either real or it is theatre. Biden and Obama spent too long flirting with theatre. Trump is restoring reality, and the country will be safer and fairer if that reality is paired with professionalism and transparency.