Democrat politicians across the country are notorious exploiters of natural disasters, terrorist acts, tragedies, people stuck in poverty, and minorities. When the Trump administration announced this week that “the program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama Administration is being rescinded,” Democrats immediately took to their keyboards, the airwaves, and the local protesting parks to announce their solidarity with “dreamers” and vent their anger at the “racist” act. (Facts and procedure be damned.)

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has big-time political aspirations (if only Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris would get out of the way) couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. ATTN: posted a video on Facebook featuring Garcetti fondly recalling his own family’s immigrant story.

He says, in part:

“As the grandson of a Dreamer, I’m here because of the work of those who came before me.

My grandfather, Salvador, came to this country when he was one year old, with no documents. But he fought for this country in World War 2, and, as a veteran, became a citizen, opened up a small business, and contributed to this society.

Today’s Dreamers are just the same. Members of our family, members of our community, members of our Armed Forces…

It is time for Congress to act.”

Aww, what a heartwarming story. Too bad it’s full of flat-out untruths, and not just his remarks about policy and law.

Garcetti’s grandfather, Salvador, is an immigrant who eventually served in the military, opened up a business, and contributed to society. Not much else stands up to scrutiny.

Records from Ancestry.com show that Salvador Garcetti (Garcia) entered the country at age 11, through a legal port of entry in Texas, from his birthplace in Mexico. Salvador was not from a poverty-stricken farm family, though. His father, Massimo “Max” Garcetti, immigrated to Mexico from Italy, married a Mexican woman, and became a judge. Max was murdered during the Mexican Revolution, after which Salvador and his mother came to the United States – legally.

This is a document. It’s an official document from the United States government stating that Salvador Garcia (Garcetti) entered the United States in El Paso, Texas on February 8, 1922, at the age of 11.

Salvador later married a US citizen, had two children, and applied for naturalization at age 32.

Beyond the flat-out lie of when his grandfather entered the country and how, by not pointing out the differences in immigration law at the time his grandfather and great-grandmother immigrated to the United States and today Garcetti draws a false equivalency between his family and the “DREAMers” of today. In 1922, there was no Border Patrol and there was no paperwork requirement. “Immigrants would simply arrive at ports of entry (such as Ellis Island), where they were inspected and allowed into the country, unless they fell into one of the excluded categories.” The excluded categories included:

“…most Asians (except Japanese and Filipinos), prostitutes, paupers, polygamists, persons with “dangerous and loathsome contagious disease,” persons likely to become a public charge, anarchists and radicals, the “feebleminded” and “insane,” and the illiterate.

After 1921 there were quotas on the numbers of immigrants allowed into the United States from various countries, but immigrants from Mexico were not subject to them. The Immigration Act of 1924 imposed stricter standards for immigrants, but since Salvador Garcetti entered the country in 1922 – legally – and didn’t leave until he was serving in World War 2, he had no reason to fear deportation and would not have been considered “undocumented.”

So, Mayor Garcetti, today’s “DREAMers” are not the same in any way. You, Mayor, are an Italian/Mexican/Russian/Jewish American whose ancestors came to this country through legal channels, who was born to a wealthy family, and who grew up in a privileged area and only attended the best private schools. From this gilded perch you are attempting to appropriate the suffering of a group of impoverished minorities who are seeking a better life for themselves and their family – all so you can drum up contributions to fuel political ambitions and capture votes.

It’s a con, and this type of snobbish cultural appropriation is the worst type of racism.