The American left has developed a peculiar hobby: citing the Constitution to justify positions the document never endorsed. It’s become a kind of parlor trick – wave the parchment around, invoke the Founders, and hope nobody actually checks the text. Nowhere is this sleight of hand more transparent than in the immigration debate.

A growing wing of the Democrat Party now treats federal immigration enforcement as inherently illegitimate. Not merely flawed or in need of reform – unconstitutional. It’s a bold claim. It also happens to be dead wrong. And the person making it loudest right now is about to earn herself a seat in the United States Congress.

From The Post Millennial:

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and Democrat candidate for the House of Representatives Darializa Avila Chevalier has claimed that it is a “violation of our Constitution” for ICE to arrest and investigate those not born in the US. She will likely be elected to represent New York’s 13th District on November 3.

She made the comments during an interview on WNYC’s Who’s Running This Place? podcast while discussing immigration issues. “Think about for example the way we deal with folks who are citizens who engage in criminal activity. They go through the criminal system, they are tried, and then they pay their debt to society.”

This is the view of modern Democrats. Not every last one of them, sure. But a loud, organized, and increasingly powerful faction that party leadership has chosen to accommodate rather than challenge. And accommodation, in politics, is endorsement by another name.

Rewriting the founding document from the campaign trail

Chevalier’s argument is straightforward enough. If a non-citizen commits a crime and faces consequences from ICE on top of the criminal justice system, that extra layer of scrutiny amounts to – in her words – “a violation of our Constitution on the basis of where someone was born.”

Here’s the problem. Article I, Section 8 of that same Constitution explicitly hands Congress the power to establish rules for naturalization and immigration. Federal enforcement agencies like ICE exist because of the founding document, not in spite of it. The law of the land authorizes their work. Full stop.

Someone gunning for a congressional seat might want to brush up on that before swearing an oath to defend it.

Welcome to the big tent

Chevalier isn’t some rogue activist livestreaming from a basement. She carries the endorsement of New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the full backing of the DSA. She’s cruising toward victory in deep-blue NY-13, where her election is essentially a formality.

Earlier this month she put it plainly: “We are going to abolish ICE, and we’re going to take that to the federal level and do it in Congress.” What started as a fringe slogan spray-painted on protest banners is now a campaign promise. The Democrat Party hasn’t just tolerated this drift – they’ve rolled out the welcome mat.

Chaos by design

Then there’s the public safety angle. Chevalier labels ICE a “rogue agency” that generates “chaos” and “undermines public safety.” Think about that for a moment. The federal agency charged with removing criminal aliens and enforcing immigration law is – according to a future congresswoman – the threat. She even floated the idea that ICE targets people simply because “they might look like an immigrant.”

The real disorder isn’t enforcement. It’s a governing philosophy that treats every instrument of border security as an act of oppression.

Every incoming member of Congress raises a right hand and swears to support and defend the Constitution. It’s not ceremonial. It’s supposed to mean something. When candidates ride into office on a platform built around misreading that document, voters in every district – not just Manhattan – should sit up and pay attention. The oath hasn’t changed. The question is whether the people taking it still respect what it demands.

Key Takeaways

• DSA-backed Democrat Chevalier calls immigration enforcement unconstitutional – and is poised to win a congressional seat.
• Article I, Section 8 explicitly grants Congress power over immigration, directly contradicting her claim.
• “Abolish ICE” has evolved from protest slogan to official Democratic campaign platform.
• The modern Democrat Party continues welcoming open-borders radicalism into its ranks unchallenged.

Sources: The Post Millennial