Over the weekend, hundreds of migrants tried to breach our border at the San Ysidro crossing near San Diego. These invaders pelted Border Patrol agents with rocks and bottles, so tear gas was deployed. President Donald Trump was criticized for doing the exact same thing as former President Barack Obama. However, Obama’s use of tear gas was far worse than originally reported, and a long list of Democrats gave him a free pass.
Democrats reacted with predictable faux outrage because they are on a mission to “resist” President Donald Trump and anything he does is an atrocity in their minds. Also predictably, the Obama administration had done the same thing and liberal lawmakers never uttered a word of disgust. As it turns out, under Obama tear gas was deployed at the border on an almost monthly basis.
After Sunday’s incident at the border where BP agents used non-lethal means to keep hundreds of migrants from storming the gates, a San Diego Union-Tribune article from Barack Obama’s time in office made the rounds, pointing out the left’s selective outrage:
A group of about 100 people trying to illegally cross the border Sunday near the San Ysidro port of entry threw rocks and bottles at U.S. Border Patrol agents, who responded by using pepper spray and other means to force the crowd back into Mexico, federal officials said.
The left countered by saying that the 2013 article doesn’t assert that agents used tear gas, just pepper spray, but The Washington Examiner dug a little deeper and found that under Obama tear gas was regularly used throughout his occupation of the White House:
The same tear-gas agent that the Trump administration is taking heat for deploying against a border mob this weekend is actually used fairly frequently — including more than once a month during the later years of President Barack Obama’s administration, according to Homeland Security data.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has used 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, or CS, since 2010, and deployed it 26 times in fiscal 2012 and 27 times in 2013. The use dropped after that, but was still deployed three times in 2016, Mr. Obama’s final full year in office.
Oh, the horror. This report doesn’t give specific numbers for most years Obama was in office, but what data is available shows his administration used tear gas at the border at least 56 times. For some reason, there were not 56 separate liberal freak-outs during Obama’s time in office. Actually, that reason is because Obama is a Democrat and liberals only have a meltdown when Republicans do things, even if its something one of theirs has also done.
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz has been in office since 2012, meaning he was around when Obama was prez, but he was never alarmed back then. However, with Trump in charge, the Democrat suggested that Trump had used “chemical weapons” on women and children, in violation of international law.
Rep. Barbra Lee has been in office since 1998, meaning she was around for Obama’s entire two terms, but she never had a problem with tear gas being used at the border until Trump was in charge. She actually accused the President of “atrocities.”
The tear-gassing of women and children at the border is an atrocity. It’s a violation of human rights. And it is a grotesque betrayal of our founding promise, as a nation built by immigrants.
I’ve called for @UN inspectors on the border, and I reiterate that call today. https://t.co/k5mXSs0oFU
— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) November 26, 2018
Rep. José E. Serrano has been in office since 1990, and he only recently discovered that tear gas is bad:
What happened over the weekend in the #SanYsidro Port of Entry is unprecedented & horrifying for the U.S. Pictures of children crying & running away from tear gas were devastating. Those crossing the border are fleeing extreme violence & poverty, situations out of their control.
— José E. Serrano (@RepJoseSerrano) November 26, 2018
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan was first elected in 2009, but he too only became concerned with using tear gas at the border this week:
Tear gassing children who’ve arrived at our border to seek asylum is simply inhumane. There is a process in place to apply for asylum and the President and his administration know it. https://t.co/jd8cxTW6tP
— Ben Ray Lujan (@repbenraylujan) November 27, 2018
The truth of the matter is, there is absolutely no difference between President Donald Trump’s border security and immigration enforcement policies and Barack Obama’s policies. Obama separated families at the border and put kids in cages. Obama deported so many illegal immigrants that it earned him the nickname the “Deporter-in-Chief.
And yes, Obama deployed tear gas against migrants trying to storm their way into this country. Democrats need to find something else they can pretend is outrageous.
