Michigan Senate Democrats don’t want their Republican colleagues to talk about “illegal immigrants,” but Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, insists efforts to censor him “won’t make this national crisis go away.”

Nesbitt, an outspoken critic of President Joe Biden’s border policies, is pushing back on the Democratic majority’s efforts to prevent him from discussing the issue with his constituents.

On Wednesday, Nesbitt exposed one way Democrats in the upper chamber are working to control the narrative ahead of the November election, while also blocking Republican efforts to address the border crisis.

“This week, the Democrat majority in the Senate rejected this mailer I planned to send to 22,041 seniors in my district,” Nesbitt posted to X. “Why? Because I used the term ‘illegal immigrants.’ Seriously,” he said.

This week, the Democrat majority in the Senate rejected this mailer I planned to send to 22,041 seniors in my district.
 
Why? Because I used the term "illegal immigrants." Seriously.
 
Sorry, Democrats – censorship won't make the border crisis go away. pic.twitter.com/APS23lgUEU

— Senator Aric Nesbitt (@SenAricNesbitt) May 22, 2024

“Sorry, Democrats – censorship won’t make the border crisis go away,” he added.

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The mailer, in part, aimed to highlight Republicans’ Stronger Borders, Safer Communities plan to “increase penalties for anyone who brings fentanyl into our communities, ban sanctuary jurisdictions that attract illegal immigrants, and send the National Guard to help secure the southern border.”

“Someone who enters this country illegally, violating our sovereignty and our laws, is an illegal immigrant. Period. End of story,” Nesbitt told The Midwesterner. “It’s crystal clear. It’s so clear, that even President Biden said the phrase ‘illegals’ in his State of the Union address.

“Why censoring speech on this topic is of importance to the Democratic majority is beyond me. It won’t make this national crisis go away.”

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Nesbitt penned an editorial for The Detroit News last week highlighting the more than 7.2 million immigrants that have illegally entered the United States through the southern border since President Biden took office, “an amount larger than the population of 36 states.”

“Since the dismantling of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, people caught crossing the border illegally often file asylum claims as a defense against deportation and are then released into the United States while their claim is pending — with hearings set for 6 to 10 years away because of the sheer volume of these cases — they can disappear into society virtually without a trace,” Nesbitt wrote.

“We now find these immigrants are taking refuge in self-proclaimed sanctuary cities, where they will not face deportation for wrongdoing and states where taxpayer-funded welfare programs are popping up to support them. In Michigan, our own governor has championed these dangerous open-border policies.”

Michigan Democrats are blocking legislation introduced by Republicans in February to ban cities and counties from adopting “sanctuary” policies designed to protect illegal immigrants from federal law enforcement.

That legislation came months before Michigan State Police charged illegal immigrant Brandon Ortiz-Vite with murder for allegedly shooting Grand Rapids’ Ruby Garcia with an illegally purchased handgun before dumping the woman’s body alongside US 131 in March.

The gruesome crime followed another in Grand Rapids less than a year prior involving illegal immigrant Luis Bernal-Sosa, who gunned down the mother of his child, 22-year-old Leah Gomez, as she was sitting inside her car with the child inside.

At the time of both crimes, the Center for Immigration Studies identified Kent County, which includes Grand Rapids, as a sanctuary jurisdiction.

In the months since the legislation was introduced, other illegal immigrants have been arrested for soliciting sex from minors in Shiawassee County, sexual conduct with a 15-year-old Livingston County girl, multiple sex assaults in Ann Arbor, a fatal hit-and-run in Grand Rapids, and breaking into a home in Sturgis to molest two girls under the age of 13.

While refusing to hold a hearing on Republicans sanctuary bill and others in the Stronger Borders, Safer Communities initiative, Democrats have instead focused on providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, providing $8 million to cover legal fees for “asylum-seekers,” and promoting the state’s “Newcomer Rental Subsidy” program that subsidizes “asylum-seekers” with $500 per month vouchers.

All the while, the people and the drugs are flowing.

“From March 2021 to April 2024, Operation Lone Star officers have seized more than 473 million lethal doses of fentanyl, 57,000 pounds of meth, and 10,000 firearms. They have apprehended hundreds of thousands of immigrants from U.S. adversaries, including Afghanistan, China, Iran and Russia,” Nesbitt wrote last week.

“Defending our national security shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” he wrote. “It’s time for Democrats and our governor to listen to Michigan residents and get serious about securing our national border and keeping our communities safe.”