A representative from the Vera Institute of Justice, a group with documented financial ties to billionaire George Soros, told attendees at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) summer meeting in Minneapolis that they should avoid discussing “migrant crime” or “carjackings,” arguing that most Americans are more concerned with issues such as homelessness and mental health.
“Where does Trump go? Migrant crime, carjackings, the really lurid awful stuff that is a crazy, crazy visual,” Vera Institute speaker Insha Rahman said. “Don’t take the bait, because most Americans are more worried about how are we going to address mental health issues, the visible homelessness that we see on streets, and how do we deal with mental health and other issues that drive the sort of random incidents that scare all of us. That’s what you should be talking about, that’s where you should be focused. Don’t take the bait in talking about migrant crime or carjackings or the things that actually don’t matter to that many Americans.”
The Democrats opened their summer meeting on Monday with a land acknowledgment recognizing the Dakota Oyate as the “original stewards of the lands and waters” of Minneapolis. Lindy Sowmick, addressing the gathering, told attendees, “In many ways, we still live in a system built to suppress Indigenous people’s cultural and spiritual history.”
The Vera Institute of Justice has long been tied to left-wing immigration and criminal justice initiatives and has received significant financial backing connected to billionaire George Soros. The group’s programs have also included participants who were recipients of fellowships from Soros’s Open Society Foundations. Since 2016, Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society has awarded over $11 million in grants to the Vera Institute.
In July 2022, Fox News reported that the group won a $171.7 million federal contract from President Joe Biden’s administration to provide attorneys to Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) in deportation proceedings, a contract that could total nearly $1 billion if extended through 2027. The organization, which has also received more than $300 million in federal contracts during the Obama administration, states that it aims to reduce the use of jails, prisons, and detention centers in the United States.
Financial audits show the Vera Institute receives most of its funding from government grants and contracts. Between July 2020 and June 2021, $152 million of its $191 million revenue came from taxpayer-backed sources. The group has also partnered with cities like Philadelphia to provide free legal representation to illegal aliens facing deportation.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), by contrast, argued earlier this month that Democrats should not center their message on Donald Trump but instead put forward a clear policy agenda. “We need our own Contract with America, ‘This is what we’ll do if we get the keys to the house, this is what we’ll do to address the economic problems,’” Titus told NewsNation. She stated Democrats should “quit so much of a focus on the bad parts of Donald Trump” and instead emphasize what they would do in office.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also weighed in on Democrats’ approach to crime recently, telling CNN that the party must be “much more” honest about its shortcomings. “The Democratic Party has to look at this issue much more honestly and say, ‘Hey, there are some places where we should be doing better, our leaders should be doing better,’” de Blasio noted. He cautioned, however, against using military force in U.S. cities or deploying the National Guard, arguing that effective crime reduction depends on building trust between police and communities rather than resorting to what he described as “an occupying force.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have mocked Democratic messaging efforts. On August 12, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) circulated a memo deriding House Democrats’ “Project 2026” platform as “wildly unpopular” and accusing the party of wanting to move “swiftly back to Joe Biden’s America.” The NRCC satirized Democratic proposals with lines such as, “Bring Back Wasteful Government Spending and High Crime,” and, “Open Borders. Full Stop,” while Democrats dismissed the memo as an attempt to “distract from [Republicans’] failed leadership.”
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