Democrat-run cities and states have lined up in recent years to loudly declare their status as "sanctuary" jurisdictions for illegal immigrants. It's become a requisite virtue signal among progressives. But what happens when uncontrolled illegal immigration starts to impact these places in ways that the progressives who run them never intended and cannot handle? The point was to posture about "compassion" and telegraph disapproval of the "harsh" immigration policies of the "bad" people. The point was not to actually have to deal seriously with the crush of a crisis caused by politicians who share their empty posturing. Blue mayors blasted the last administration at every turn, as was the norm among Democrats, and they've ripped into GOP governors who've sent relatively small numbers of illegal immigrants from the current crisis to their cities.
Just days ago, New York's Eric Adams suggested that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a racist for busing migrants to places with black mayors. Two points: First, why would proud "sanctuary" cities object in any way to offering, well, sanctuary to illegal immigrants (no human is illegal after all, according to the rainbow-colored placards they display in their yards and windows)? Shouldn't they be grateful for the opportunity to live their values and to spare the migrants from the fascist dystopia of Texas? Second, why would the skin color of the mayors matter at all? It happens that many of the largest 'sanctuary' cities currently have black mayors. But many of them are located in Democrat-held states run by lily white governors (Hochul in New York, Newsom in California, Polis in Colorado, Pritzker in Illinois). How does the racial demagoguery framing apply to white Democratic governors? It doesn't, because the objective of Adams' gross framing wasn't to argue anything coherent. In any case, how are things going in the enlightened city of New York, where providing aid and comfort to illegal immigrants is Who They Are?
NEW: New York City is temporarily suspending some of the rules related to its longstanding guarantee of shelter to anyone who needs it as officials struggle to find housing for migrants arriving from the southern border. https://t.co/3o1RgSUpzI
— Liam Stack (@liamstack) May 11, 2023
Adams is saying, again, that his city is over capacity. This is the same man who said last year that Texas should be forced to handle these issues, despite Texas' government opposing the crisis-fueling policies that New York ostentatiously supports. Also, what exactly is a 'rule' about government 'guarantees' worth if it can be unilaterally suspended when the going gets tough? Where's all the vaunted compassion and humanity in this decision? New Yorkers, is this Who You Are? Oh, and what happened to this?
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"We should protect our immigrants." Period.
— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) October 20, 2021
Yes, New York City will remain a sanctuary city under an Adams administration. #EricOnNBC
It's interesting what can happen when self-righteous slogans collide with unpleasant realities. Despite its mayor's protestations, the Big Apple should brace for more 'sanctuary' strains, courtesy of another city run by Democrats:
On the eve of the expiration of the Title 42 policy, El Paso leaders revealed the Texas border city is ready to bus more migrants to the Big Apple and other major cities across the US. El Paso’s mayor and deputy city manager confirmed to The Post Wednesday their city has the buses warmed up, but are holding off on sending off asylum seekers until more arrive. The plan by El Paso officials comes as New York City, faced with its own struggles to care for migrants already in the five boroughs, said it will relocate existing asylum seekers to jurisdictions in other parts of the Empire State...The arrivals of thousands of newcomers have strained Gotham’s resources, NYC Mayor Eric Adams has said numerous times as he has pleaded for federal help. The city is now trying to send hundreds of migrants from city shelters to hotels in upstate Rockland and Orange counties. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said he would continue to send migrants to New York if they want to go regardless of the city’s situation, noting many want to live in major market areas.
It's cruel and heartless for Republicans to want to stop the crisis with successful, sane policies. It's also cruel and heartless for Republicans to send illegal immigrants to 'sanctuary' cities, whose leaders want the associated leftist cred without the actual responsibility. But it's perfectly fine for progressive enclaves like Martha's Vineyard to effectively deport their illegal migrant population after roughly a day, and for New York City to ship some of theirs to outlying counties (or Canada). Outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot once called Abbott a bad Christian for busing illegal immigrants to her apparently-not-so-'sanctuary' city, then promptly evicted them. Speaking of Chicago, it seems as though some of the Windy City's residents aren't thrilled about a small fraction of the border crisis arriving on their doorstep:
Photos captured from the event pic.twitter.com/mp3946xI3L
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 11, 2023
Is that a 'build the wall' sign being held by a black female Chicago resident objecting to the impact the border crisis in having on her community? It does appear so, yes. At the end of that clip, one of the people at the public meeting raises safety concerns. Chicagoans just elected a delusional, soft-on-crime, paid teachers union agitator as their next mayor. Crime is out of control in the city, and local prosecutor Jason Poje just resigned from office in an absolutely scathing letter:
To my colleagues: After 20 years, I always kind of figured an email like this would start with “It is with a heavy heart that I leave…” The truth is, I can’t get out of here fast enough...The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predictable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt. Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders, the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers, overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a generation.
Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years). If it were just me to consider, I’d stick it out. I’ve been through stupid State’s Attorney policies before. But this Office’s complete failure to even think for a moment before rushing into one popular political agenda after another has put my family directly in harm’s way...I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe.
I'd be interested to know where the Poje family is headed. I'll leave you with this mind-blowing New York Times headline (which may or may not be more mind-blowing than this one).
yeah, a real head-scratcher pic.twitter.com/whmKfDJR0P
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) May 11, 2023
The premise of the sub-headline is an echo of the Biden administration's insulting "root causes" blathering. Obviously, there are push factors in other countries. That has been, and will always be, the case. It is hubris and folly to try to fix all of the external issues elsewhere that might drive people to come to America illegally. The obvious principal role of the federal government must be to enforce our laws and defend our sovereignty. This administration has made clear from the start that they would do neither, and since then, more than six million people have acted accordingly. Biden policy is the problem, period. There's no mystery or false complexity here, no matter how often the White House and their media allies flog their alternate reality.
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