Professional golfer Phil Mickelson sparked widespread conservative support and leftist backlash after declaring the U.S. was far too lenient on illegal immigration, listing harsh penalties from other nations. Posted in response to a viral video of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey refusing to cooperate with ICE and speaking Somali during a speech, Mickelson’s comments garnered thousands of likes.
Mickelson’s tweet drew agreement from followers who called current immigration policies an “invasion” and “looting” of American citizenship. The six-time major champion has repeatedly criticized open borders, previously stating, “A country without borders is not a country.”
Starting off his comments, the famous and generally liked athlete began, “The US is way too lenient on illegal immigration. Singapore: 6 months in prison, caning, THEN deportation. Malaysia: 1-5 years in prison, caning, then deportation. Qatar 3 years in prison, forced labor, then deportation.”
Continuing his list, the popular golfer added, “Russia: 2 years in prison, forced labor, then deportation. N Korea no deportation, just execution. Hungary 8 years in prison, then deportation. S Africa 1 year in prison, then deportation. Japan 3 years in prison, then deportation,” noting, “Countless more like these.”
In the comments under his post, conservatives concurred with his analysis. “Phil, the problem is that these are the “legal” immigrants they are bringing here! Third world “legal” immigration is actually much worse than illegal immigration!,” one user interjected.
Expressing common frustration, another added, “In a world with near-unlimited labor arbitrage to the lowest bidder (or even slave labor), any standard of living you or I would accept requires protection. Our politcians (sic) shirk this duty because they’re complicit in the looting, even codifying it into “legal” immigration.”
For context, Mickelson was reacting to a viral post from a popular conservative account, expressing anger at the woke mayor of Minneapolis. “BREAKING: Minneapolis Mayor Frey says he will not cooperate with ICE, starts speaking Somali mid-speech” the post read.
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Frey began his remarks by telling off Trump for objecting to widespread fraud among the Somali community, before making comments in Somali. “That’s not American. That’s not what we are about, and we’re going to do right by every single person in our cities and so to our Somali community,” he whined before transitioning to the African language.
Watch the clip here:
This is far from the first time Mickelson has made a public statement on immigration. “More proof this was a targeted attack from within. The money, resources,effort, lives lost in order to undue this massive internal attack is forever appreciated 🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸,” he said in response to a post from James Woods.
Woods initially commented, “The puppeteers running the Biden presidency by autopen also granted illegal social security numbers to millions of unvetted illegal aliens. They essentially invalidated your citizenship by making any invader a voter.”
In another post, the outspoken golfer said, “A country without borders is not a country. This is an extreme infiltration and it requires an extreme and opposite response. I don’t know the billions it costs to deport them but it would have saved a lot by not letting this happen in the first place.”
Featured image from embedded video