In a recent email to her constituents, Representative Chrissy Houlahan talks about a yard sign she saw “right here in southeastern Pennsylvania” that read “Illegals for Harris.” She states the sign is “repugnant and reprehensible.” 

She talks about Springfield, Ohio, and the comments made about immigrants there, linking these actions together and imploring us to “shut down any tolerance of hatred.” The remainder of the email lectures us about how “our strength is in our diversity” and “there is room for all of us.” 

There is nothing inherently wrong with the sentiment expressed by the sign. It is simply a different point of view — a small protest — about the overwhelming influx of immigrants the Democrats have ushered into this country. 

So, why attack a constituent? Why such a public and toxic rebuke against arguably at least half of her constituents? 

Under the Biden-Harris administration, nationwide border encounters have surpassed 10 million, with an additional 2 million known gotaways, and the number of unknown gotaways is, well, unknown. 

Under mass-parole programs implemented by the Biden-Harris administration, more than 1.2 million inadmissible aliens have been released into our country. In this fiscal year alone, 446 known gang members have been arrested, and since fiscal year 2021, 378 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended. 

In an article by Paul Davis published here at Broad + Liberty on October 15th, he states, “Many people were taken aback by last month’s chilling report that as of July 21st, 662,566 illegal immigrants with criminal records illegally crossed over the porous Southern border.” The information was provided by a deputy director and senior official from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Many of these records consisted of homicide, sexual assaults, and other violent criminal acts. Certainly, this kind of diversity is not our strength. 

Just the sheer number of recent immigrants raises reasonable concerns. Pennsylvania alone has seen an immigration surge of 241 percent. Springfield, Ohio, with a population of only 58,000 in 2020, has had an estimated 20,000 Haitians recently move into its town. Voters in Phoenixville, Downingtown, Kennett Square, and West Chester may be concerned about how a potentially similar influx of immigrants would impact their communities. They have every right to question, without being attacked by their elected representative, if there really is “room for everyone.” 

So why did Houlahan so stridently dismiss these concerns with grade school political slogans? Why such virtue hysterics? 

Interestingly, Representative Houlahan voted against the Equal Representation Act, which would have required the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question on all future decennial censuses and prohibit non-citizens from being counted toward congressional district and Electoral College apportionment. She also voted against the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would have required proof of citizenship when registering to vote. 

Representative Houlahan praised President Joe Biden for signing, in June of this year, executive orders regarding immigration and further urged the House to bring immigration reform to the floor for a vote after the Senate passed the Border Act of 2024. As a member of the Democrats for Border Security Task Force, she joined in a statement saying, “We commend President Biden for taking this Executive Action to bring ‘order to the border.’ This is an important step. Democrats for Border Security recognize that the President has taken this bold action because Congress has failed to act. Now, Republican leadership must finally allow the House to vote on the bipartisan Senate legislation proposed earlier this year.” 

Evidently, Representative Houlahan felt this praise was warranted after 3.5 years of not bringing “order to the border.” Her praise reflects a far-left minority opinion. An Economist/YouGov poll released in June found only 29 percent of Americans approved of President Biden’s handling of the immigration issue. 

Democrats nonetheless argue that Trump killed this particular bill to play politics and have immigration as an issue in this election. But there was an earlier bill passed by the House in May of 2023 that Trump did not oppose. Had it passed, would we be talking about immigration this election cycle? Houlahan voted against that particular bill, and the Senate did not take it up. Was she playing politics? Perhaps she merely disagreed with the provisions in that bill. Her voting record does show that she is in agreement with Biden-Harris 99 percent of the time. 

Anyone can certainly delve into the specifics of these immigration bills and argue each point, but a far more effective avenue for a busy voter may be to simply examine what happened over the past almost four years. Results are always very telling. 

Most Americans understand that the immigration process under the Biden-Harris administration and the Democrats has been a disaster. You can argue now about how to fix it, but the problem now that needs to be fixed was made far worse during the current administration. It was not orderly, it was not humane, it was not fair or just, and it certainly was not an act of tolerance or kindness. When you look at the additional surge of fentanyl and the tragic stories of human and, in particular, child trafficking, supporting this process seems not just wrong but unimaginable. 

Representative Houlahan enabled this chaos, and when one of her constituents showed their disagreement, she chose to attack. Of course, she can disagree, but she chose to boldly exhibit her disagreement with such incredible hubris. 

Is she so confident that her constituents will cower at her bullying? Is she so certain her words will be more powerful than action and results? Has virtue signaling become that powerful? I believe the answer is “yes” to all these questions. 

Democrats skillfully manipulate the facade of kindness. They do it over and over again until some people, enough people, truly believe they are being kind even in the face of stark reality showing the opposite. Houlahan’s email response is just one of the latest examples of this insidious approach. This was her chosen tactic, and it was telling.

Sadly, perhaps we are in a post-factual world where reality is secondary to perceived feelings. I certainly hope not, but at its core, I do believe this election is about voting for actual kindness, not the facade of kindness. 

Julia Hearthway is currently retired and living in Chester County, enjoying time with her family and especially her grandchildren. She is a former prosecutor, served as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Labor & Industry, served as an appellate court judge for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, and as Director for the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor. @JhearthwayJulia