Over the past months, prominent political figures have attempted to convince Americans that those illegally in the country have not committed any crime. By their argument, immigration violations are civil offenses, not criminal offenses. Sure, laws were broken -- but no “crime” has been committed. By this reasoning, those illegally in the country have not committed any crime; therefore, removing them is wrong.

It’s an odd assertion: to suggest that breaking laws is not a crime. The Founders envisioned a nation governed by laws that were clear and impartially enforced, but our “nation of laws” is eroding. The idea of a nation with liberty and justice for all is being destroyed by those who capriciously choose which laws to enforce and which to ignore, and by judges who decide who gets punished and who walks free.

Our nation of laws is becoming lawless -- and Americans see it. Police stand down while buildings burn and businesses are looted. Victims who try to defend themselves risk being arrested, while their attackers are released without consequence. The price is paid not by the guilty, but by the innocent.

Large cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, have adjusted the way they report violent crime to fool voters into believing crime rates are lower. Felonies are downgraded to misdemeanors. In some jurisdictions, law enforcement officers are urged to report serious offenses, such as aggravated assault, as minor incidents or not to file reports at all.

In the midst of this chaos, Democrats across the nation are calling to defund the police. Like a dystopian Mad Max sequel, a segment of America is promoting criminal anarchy. It is as if we are part of a dystopian nightmare masterminded by an evil villain salivating at the prospect of watching the impending violence and bloodshed.

City streets are given over to vagrants and substance abusers, who take over parks and defecate on sidewalks. Allowing people to sleep on the streets is branded as compassion, but there is no dignity in living on the streets. Nor is there dignity in using the sidewalks for a toilet, like a dog. In many cities, it is common to see addicts frozen in time like Lot’s wife, bent in a posture known as the fentanyl fold. No person of conscience believes it is compassionate to enable people to destroy themselves. Laws used to protect people from the menace of vagrancy, loitering, and public intoxication.

In California, drug use and shoplifting have been decriminalized. Burglary and retail theft fund the lifestyles of crime rings and addicts. Retail customers find empty shelves or the products they need locked up behind glass. Those charged with theft are released to offend again -- and again. It isn’t a victimless crime. Retailers close their doors. Customers lose their pharmacies and grocers.

It isn’t just the worst elements of society enjoying this criminal free-for-all. Reports of corruption are commonplace, from the smallest municipalities to the federal government. Money laundering, embezzlement, fraud, and pay-to-play kickbacks are routinely uncovered, yet indictments rarely follow.

Recent reports of fraud in the Somali population of Minnesota suggest federal programs were used to bilk taxpayers out of at least a billion dollars. Worse are allegations that elected officials, including Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, not only knew of the grift but may have benefited from it.

Part of the blame goes to voters who elect candidates whose personal histories should be disqualifying:

• Angela Walker, a recently elected council member in Bangor, Maine, spent eight years in prison after being convicted of beating a man, then suffocating him with sand.
• Newly elected District Attorney Jay Jones sent texts fantasizing about shooting a political adversary and wishing to see the man’s wife hold her dying children. This is who Virginia chose as their so-called “top cop.”

Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was under federal indictment for money laundering and accepting bribes in exchange for advocating on behalf of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank, but was allowed to remain in office.

He is only one of many who have taken money from nations hostile to America or gotten cozy with spies -- think Linda Sun or Eric Swalwell. Despite the allegations, there are rarely consequences. In fact, despite having been involved with a Chinese spy, Eric Swalwell is still in Congress, and plans to run for governor of California.

Is it any wonder Americans distrust the government?

Without the rule of law, every citizen is vulnerable to the whims of those for whom justice is optional. Prosecutors -- often Ivy League Marxists -- twist the law to serve their own ideology, and the courts offer no remedy. Gone is the judiciousness of the bench. Many of today’s judges are gussied-up versions of Boss Hogg, hiding behind the legal authority of black robes.

Under the banner of “restorative justice,” race becomes a get-out-of-jail-free card, and prosecutors offer flimsy rationales to convince the public that crimes committed by some people shouldn’t be punished. In the eyes of the law, all defendants are equal, but through the eyes of the courts, some are more equal than others.

Then there are the crimes committed by those illegally in the country. Every week, headlines report assaults, rapes, or murders committed by people who should never have been allowed here. Even when they are guilty of crimes or have a history of criminal behavior, efforts to deport them are portrayed as a cruel injustice.

When the guilty go unpunished, the laws do not protect the innocent; they protect wrongdoers. The American ideal of “justice for all” has become meaningless. Under her blindfold, Lady Justice surely has a black eye.

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