Keith Ellison wants criminals breaking into homes arrested—but refuses to say illegal immigrants should be deported

At the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee hearing on Thursday, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) grilled Democrat Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on the issue of immigration as well as antisemitism. Ellison avoided saying if illegal immigrants should be deported, and refused to condemn comments from Louis Farrakhan, who said that “Judaism is a dirty religion.”

Moreno asked, “Do you think that people who are here in this country illegally, meaning they either entered illegally or overstayed a visa, should be deported? Yes, simple yes or no.”

Ellison did not go with the simple answer of “yes or no,” but said that if they have an “asylum petition” or another reason to enter the country, then “it depends.”

“Okay, so somebody breaks into your home, should they be arrested for breaking and entering or does it depend?” Moreno fired back.

Ellison claimed it was an “entirely different scenario” because entering the country illegally is a “civil" matter and “breaking into my home is a criminal matter.”

“Okay, gotcha. So if there's, so there's laws that should be enforced, so we shouldn't enforce civil violations?” Moreno said in response.

Ellison then insisted that civil laws “should be” enforced. Moreno then said on the topic of illegal immigrants, applying Ellison’s own argument, “So they should be deported.”

Ellison responded, “No. They should have due process that is associated with their petition.”

“The act of entering the country illegally, you think we should say, ‘Well, did you really do it or not do it?’ It's pretty obvious that they did, right?”

Ellison said that it “depends on the facts of the situation,” but did not say that those who enter the country illegally should be deported. Ellison then made the argument that some of the illegal immigrants could be making a “good faith” attempt at asylum because of oppression and persecution.

Moreno, then shooting back at Ellison, said, “That's a phenomenal, phenomenal point. Mexico and Canada. Do you consider those to be safe countries? Or no?”

Ellison responded, “Generally I do.” According to international law, asylum is in place for those fleeing places where they would be in danger or persecuted. However, in order to control migration internationally, some have argued for principles of the “safe country concept,” where it is generally permissible for countries like the United States to send those seeking asylum to “first countries of asylum.” This would be a country where those seeking asylum could have stayed after fleeing their country of origin, which they claim to be dangerous.

Moreno then said that Ellison may be implying that Mexico and Canada are not safe countries.

“Generally you do? You border Canada, don't insult your neighbors to the north. So somebody seeking asylum could certainly be safe in Canada and Mexico, no?” Moreno said.

Ellison then said that at times, there have been some refugees who are not safe in Mexico. In follow-up questions with Ellison, Moreno then grilled Ellison on the topic of antisemitism.

“I speak against antisemitism. I condemn it,” Ellison said. Moreno then asked about comments from Louis Farrakhan, who said previously that “Judaism is a dirty religion," and if Ellison would condemn the comments.

Ellison did not condemn the comments, but then protested the question. “I thought I was talking about immigration policy. I didn't know that we were going to be talking about all these matters. I mean, I'm reluctant to just sort of, I mean, we already had one thing where we didn't mention immigration policy at all. I'm fine with you asking about questions around asylum and things like that. That makes a lot of sense to me. But now we're going off in all kinds of different directions. I think there should be some scope to this hearing. And so thank you for your interest, and we both share a need to condemn antisemitism."