The Biden administration deserves the ultimate blame for the ongoing deportation protests. That’s not partisanship, it’s common sense. And common policing theory. They not only created America’s current illegal immigration problem, but they also created the expectation that immigration law would not be enforced.

Protests over ICE deportations in deep blue cities are increasing and appear increasingly coordinated. The protests are intended to convince the public that President Trump and ICE are responsible for the mayhem that the protestors are causing. Democrats are latching onto the protests to divert attention from having created America’s immigration crisis and recast themselves as political martyrs. (RELATED: Politicians Imitating Protestors Bad Omen for Democratic Party)

To avoid being hoodwinked into the Left’s verdict, America must remember these protests are implicitly — when not explicitly — calling for no enforcement of immigration law. It is also worth remembering that not enforcing immigration law is what caused America’s illegal immigration mess. (RELATED: Cameras and Cash Fuel ‘No Kings’ Protests Against Trump)

The root of America’s current illegal immigration crisis is the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce immigration law at the border and internally for four years. This non-enforcement effectively made America a sanctuary jurisdiction; the entire nation followed what Democrats had done in hundreds of locations nationwide. (RELATED: The Sanctuary State Confederacy)

Uncounted millions moved to take advantage. We neither know the precise number, nor who was in their number. When it came to immigration, the law was a dead letter; immigration law effectively did not exist.

What occurred nationwide is what has long been noted in neighborhoods where the law is not enforced: laxity of enforcement leads to abandonment of the law. It can start with something as simple as allowing buildings’ broken windows to go unrepaired. The buildings soon become derelict; unsavory elements move in; crime follows; law-abiding residents move out; and the process of decline accelerates until a neighborhood is entirely lost to it. (RELATED: ‘Broken Windows’ and the Terrorism of Small Things)

New York City has had examples of this phenomenon. On its subways, first, turnstile jumping was allowed; then the system grew increasingly dangerous. On its streets, the so-called “market of sweethearts” threatens to turn a neighborhood in Queens into a red-light district.

Broken Windows Policing

The effective response is “broken windows policing.” It means not just stopping the big crime but also not tolerating its nascent origins: the small crimes, even down to forcing landlords to fix their broken windows.

Of course, the Left dislikes broken windows policing in neighborhoods. It is therefore no wonder that they oppose the Trump administration for taking the same tactic when it comes to America’s broken immigration policy.

For four years, immigration law enforcement was discouraged nationwide. Such laxity existed even longer in hundreds of Democrat-governed sanctuary jurisdictions — virtually the same places where deportation protests are now being held.

For the Left, there is a whipsaw effect from the new reality meeting ingrained expectations. They are shocked, even if unjustifiably so.

The real cause of the Left’s shock is not the Trump administration’s enforcement of immigration law: he did it in his first term, and he promised to do it in his second. After all, the executive branch is constitutionally committed to enforcing the laws. The real cause of leftist shock is the divergence of law from lawlessness — the lawlessness of the last four years under President Joe Biden.

In broken windows policing, the problem is not the requirement that windows be fixed; the problem is having allowed them to be broken and go unfixed. The same is true with immigration policy today. The root cause of Democrats’ protests is that they allowed immigration laws to be broken and go unfixed for years.

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READ MORE from J.T. Young:

Democrats Talk Only to Themselves on Immigration

Reduce Spending and Reduce Illegal Immigration

Democrats’ Real Problem with Populism

J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left, from RealClear Publishing, and has over three decades’ experience working in Congress, the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.