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Don Lemon walked into a crowd and tried to tell hardworking Americans that crossing our border illegally is somehow not a crime — and he got called out on it immediately. The confrontation, which played out at a protest and circulated online, showed once again how partisan pundits willspin and gaslight the public rather than tell the plain truth. Conservatives should be thankful someone in the crowd refused to let that dangerous nonsense stand.
Here’s the cold, simple law Don Lemon seemed determined to ignore: 8 U.S.C. 1325 makes improper entry into the United States a criminal offense, punishable for a first offense by a fine, imprisonment for up to six months, or both. This isn’t laptop-lawyer sophistry — it is federal statute, plain and simple, and no amount of media hair-splitting erases it. Journalists who pretend otherwise are doing a disservice to the rule of law and to the Americans who expect borders to mean something.
To be crystal clear about the legal landscape: entering between ports of entry without inspection is a criminal misdemeanor on a first offense, and illegal reentry after removal is a felony under other provisions. There are civil immigration consequences too — overstays and some administrative violations are handled in civil proceedings — but that does not negate the fact that unlawful entry itself is criminalized by Congress. Don Lemon’s attempt to blur those distinctions was dishonest and dangerous.
Liberals have long pushed the narrative that “it’s just civil” to minimize the real consequences of open borders, and some on the left even call for repealing the criminal provisions so they can pretend there are no crimes at all. That debate over section 1325 has been public and intense for years, and conservatives must not cede language or law to activists who want to normalize lawlessness. Turning illegal entry into a mere suggestion would reward smugglers, endanger communities, and strip ordinary citizens of the protections they expect from their government.
Brandon Tatum — a former police officer turned conservative commentator — did what real journalists and citizens should do: he called out the lie and explained the statute to people on the spot, refusing to let another media elite gaslight the crowd. Americans are tired of elites lecturing about compassion while refusing to enforce the law that keeps neighborhoods safe and sovereignty intact. Citizens and responsible commentators must keep pressing the case for enforcement and common-sense immigration policy.
If you love this country, you don’t excuse lawbreaking because it makes a talking point feel nicer for television. We can be humane and still insist on order — that means enforcing the statutes Congress passed, securing the border, and stopping the charade that a misdemeanor somehow equals innocence. Hold the media accountable, demand your leaders enforce the law, and never let the left get away with rewriting the facts to cover up the chaos they create.
