George Carlin once observed, “By and large, language is a tool for hiding the truth.” From his perch in the great Comedy Club of the Hereafter, he’s probably gazing down with that wry head cock and raised eyebrow. Leftist politicians and mass immigration advocates have escalated their word salads, crafting absurdly deceitful titles for sanctuary bills as they desperately push an anti-border agenda.
A prime example is a linguistically tortured, ridiculously elongated bill recently introduced by Democrats in the Maine Legislature: An Act to Require Municipal and County Jails to be Available at All Times for the Detention of Persons Arrested on Criminal Charges by Maine Law Enforcement Officers (an acronym that is hopelessly unintelligible). While the bill’s title earnestly suggests public safety would improve, it actually has the opposite effect. The bill prohibits local jails from holding anyone arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), meaning illegal aliens may be released back into the community because federal officials cannot access local detention facilities.
This gobbledygook is nothing new in Maine. In 2024, the Democrat-controlled House and Senate passed LD 197, deceptively and ludicrously titling it An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities. Despite its high-minded promise of safeguarding hardworking Mainers, the bill actually protects illegal aliens. Its purpose includes restricting local officials from asking about a person’s immigration status, banning local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers, prohibiting communities from participating in ICE’s 287(g) program, and otherwise preventing local authorities from assisting immigration agencies.
In August 2023, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed an executive order creating a state Office of New Americans to attract an additional 15,000 “New Mainers” annually over five years. On the surface, this seemed beneficial for an impoverished state that could gain from increased numbers of wealthy retirees, skilled workers, and entrepreneurs. However, it had nothing to do with those benefits. “New Mainers” is Governor Mills’ euphemistic term for asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal aliens. The new organization’s purpose is to lobby on their behalf for additional federal benefits.
Massachusetts recently enacted the Work and Family Mobility Act—a title brimming with American ideals that seem almost as sweet as apple pie. In reality, the bill mandated driver’s licenses for everyone, regardless of immigration status.
Similarly, in 2024 Michigan legislators attempted to pass their Drive SAFE (Safety, Access, Freedom, and Economy) Bill. Despite the apparent nobility of its name, the bill was intended exclusively to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.
A 2023 U.S. House of Representatives bill known as The Dignity for Immigrants While Guarding Our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act—despite its lofty rhetoric—was in reality a large-scale amnesty program with sugary promises of enforcement.
Finally, consider a new bill with provocative wordplay: New Jersey Democratic lawmakers have proposed the Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered Act. Though its intent appears to be subtly veiled, the bill aims to facilitate lawsuits against federal immigration officials. Most notably, its hidden and deliberate acronym is FCKICE.
While such tactics may seem sophomoric, offensive, and deceptive, they reveal the desperate nature of today’s Left. Americans have concluded that mass immigration offers them nothing. Moreover, they are growing weary of hearing duplicitous clichés and linguistic veneers that mask efforts to protect and reward illegal immigration.
George Carlin was correct that “language is a tool for hiding the truth,” but with one significant exception: only for the gullible. Americans are no longer vulnerable to such deception. In 2024, 77 million voters chose Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, largely due to his promise to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and repudiate the Left’s habitual deceit on immigration policy.
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel of the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C.
