It has been reported by ProPublica that the IRS is building a huge database of ALL taxpayers to share with DHS for immigration enforcement purposes. This begins to sound like J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon and others who have abused government data, and given the proclivities of the Trump administration, there is great likelihood that data will be abused and used for other than immigration enforcement.
The Epstein files continue to embroil the Trump administration in conflict with its far-right supporters, although there have been efforts to diffuse that with obfuscation. I see that Sean Hannity indicated that the reason that files weren’t provided was because of the Israeli and US Intelligence Agencies potentially being embarrassed. My suspicion is that the name that they are hiding in those files is Donald J. Trump. This is somewhat corroborated by the recent disclosure of his letter to Mr. Epstein on his birthday of many years ago. It is also interesting to note that Mr. Trump says that he never draws or drew, and yet some of his drawings have been sold under his auspices.
Recent polling indicates that the Americans’ views on immigration have moved dramatically in the last month, with 55% of Americans in 2024 saying immigration should decrease. Last month it dropped to 30%, which is obviously a 25% decline, and positive views of immigration have hit a record high of 79%. The poll does not give any insights into the why for the change; my suspicion would be that people first don’t like the way it has been done; second, they are disturbed that there are no alternatives being offered to provide for a consistent labor supply in hospitality, agriculture, construction, etc., and our fellow citizens understand the logic of that, which means tasks will go undone, the economy will sink, and yet the Trump administration is filled with demagogues who continually berate immigrants. The latter is always fascinating to me because I only know a couple of people who could be called native Americans, all the rest of us are immigrants.
Inflation increased to 2.7% up from 2.4% in May. Economists are predicting that inflation will continue to rise as more tariffs take hold and given the fact that there are few, if any deals, the likelihood that we will see tariffs on many, many goods is highly probable.
Mr. Trump’s comments, somewhat at hock, on the Unabomber are bizarre given the facts behind it and that his uncle didn’t teach at MIT and that these events occurred before the Unabomber was discovered. So, what’s he saying? That he knew about it beforehand?
Canadians are furious with Mr. Trump for tariffs, for his ridiculous about making Canada the 51st state, so how will they retaliate when the next tariffs go into effect? Cutting off electricity which they supply a great deal of to at least the Northeast? Will they fail to support us in military ventures as they have for the better part of 75 years? Will they shut down any type of Iron Dome activity because they are needed in order to place the Iron Dome in strategic locations? One doesn’t know and one has to believe that they will take action which is to their benefit and to our detriment.
The deportation process that is going on at this point has certainly had howls of protest from many corners. My personal view is that the asylum process has gotten significantly out of control and is being manipulated by people coming up from Mexico, South America, and Central America. This is a unique problem because of the issue of asylum and in so many instances it is very subjective, so that DHS officers are left in many instances with the inability to determine the veracity of the claims and the same is true of the Administrative Law Judges who hear the cases. This system needs to be reformed and, in my view, severely limited. There is no doubt that we need immigrant labor for agriculture, construction, hospitality, meat packing and many other businesses, and to take this rather clumsy broad brush approach is not going to help the country as a whole in the long run, and although it may take time for this to settle in, and for us to see the impact which will occur both in terms of inflation and scarcity of goods, someone in the government needs to take a step forward to bring forth a sensible program to deal with the issue. Unfortunately, everyone is running around with their hair on fire, whether you are talking about those who support the illegal immigrants, or those who want to deport all the illegal immigrants because they are all criminals, which we know is not true. There is a need for common sense and there is a short supply of that in Washington.
Mr. Trump is threatening tariffs on August the 1st against the European Union, Mexico, obviously Canada as we noted above, and we have to be aware that all of those countries will take counter measures. They are sophisticated people and countries, and they will find ways to make this painful for us if, in fact, the tariffs don’t create pain in the United States on their own without any of the other countries needing to take action.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
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