The act of Republican governors sending busloads of illegal immigrants to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions has been a major political success. Yes, Democrats and their media allies have huffed and puffed about how "inhumane" the practice is, muttering angrily about exploiting migrants as political pawns, but so what? Their feigned fury rings hollow because they can't convincingly articulate why it's so unspeakably awful for self-declared 'sanctuary' cities and states to be put in a position to provide...sanctuary to a fraction of the endless waves of immigrants crossing illegally into the United States -- under the lax, anti-enforcement policies of pro-sanctuary officials' political party. Confronted with the consequences of their own actions, these people sputter and rage and posture, but they can't make a compelling case for why they're the victims in all of this, or why they shouldn't shoulder a substantial portion of the crisis-level burden their ideology has directly created. And thus, we are treated to self-indicting headlines and stories like this:
On a day when another bus of migrants from Texas arrived in Los Angeles, the City Council on Wednesday approved a motion asking the City Attorney's Office to investigate whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott committed any crimes when he sent 42 migrants on a 23-hour bus ride to downtown L.A. in June. The motion requests the city attorney to begin proceedings on any potential civil legal action that could be taken against the state of Texas, Abbott, or any other entity involved in the planning and action of busing migrants to Union Station, where they arrived June 14. The council voted 13-0 to approve the motion...Texas has sent a total of 11 buses of migrants to Los Angeles, beginning with the June 14 arrival, containing a total of 435 migrants.
The left-wing Los Angeles city council is mulling criminal charges against the state of Texas due to the bussing of a few hundred illegal immigrants into the city. As a point of reference, 7,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border last Tuesday alone. That story is from August 30th. Here's what the very same city council just did this past June:
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday voted to toughen policies around the use of city resources for federal immigration enforcement. On a 12 to 0 vote, the council asked city attorneys to write a new law that would bar city personnel or resources from being used for immigration enforcement. The law would also bar federal immigration authorities or other entities connected to immigration enforcement from accessing city databases or anyone’s personal data...L.A.’s proposal, referred by council members as a “sanctuary city” law, would essentially codify existing policies, including a 2017 executive directive issued by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti...the law would be similar to one in San Francisco. That law prohibits city employees from using city funds or resources to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers in the enforcement of federal immigration laws unless such assistance is required by federal or state law.
They voted unanimously to enshrine "sanctuary" policies a few months ago, and now they've voted unanimously to consider charges against Texas for the 'crime' of essentially taking them up on their own policy. These are unserious children, eager to preen about their "compassion"-driven lawlessness, but unwilling to deal with the outcomes of their self-congratulatory and ideological nonsense. If they ever end up sending legal papers over to Gov. Abbott, he should feed them directly into the shredder. Meanwhile, in Chicago, some Democratic politicians are demanding more 'resources' and benefits for illegal immigrants from the feds. Others, however, are openly calling for a curtailing of existing 'sanctuary'-style policies, arguing that they create perverse incentives, especially for felons:
There have been growing concerns about crimes being committed by some of the migrants. As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Monday night, one alderman is proposing a deterrent. Chicago is officially a Welcoming City. Three years ago, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot put the brakes on undocumented residents being turned over to immigration authorities after being charged with a crime. Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) wants to reverse that. "I think we need to send the message loud and clear that there are certain things that are unacceptable in our society," Lopez said...Lopez said the message is laid out in his ordinance proposal – follow the law or risk deportation. "I think if we have the looming threat of deportation for anyone who engages in gang, drug, prostitution, or anything else more egregious – you know, hopefully, that will deter some of the bad behavior that we're seeing," Lopez said.
Specifically, Lopez's ordinance would put some provisions back into Chicago's Welcoming City ordinance that would allow the city to contact immigration authorities - or Immigration and Customs Enforcement – if migrants or other undocumented residents were arrested for gang, drug, prostitution, or sex crimes against minors. Mayor Lightfoot banned that communication in 2021. ... Lopez's proposal comes as concerns about behavior and criminal activity in and around migrant shelters are growing in some neighborhoods. In June, residents near the migrant shelter in the old Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn complained about disruptive behavior. "They disrespect us, they rob us, they harass us," a woman said at a meeting in June.
This is a Mexican-American, openly gay, Democratic Alderman. They might try to paint him as a xenophobic bigot, but that might pose challenging optics. Consider for a moment how truly insane it is that Chicago's previous mayor, in the name of "progress," banned her city from contacting federal authorities to assist in the deportation of illegal immigrants arrested for sex crimes against minors. The city's new mayor is even more radical. Finally, a handful of elected Democrats are saying sensible things aloud. Whether any of this incremental sanity might actually be implemented remains to be seen. Chicago has been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of illegal immigrants arriving from the border, some sent by the government of Texas. As we've seen elsewhere, the city and state leadership say they can't handle the resulting housing and resources crunch. The total number of migrants who've come to Chicago during the Biden crisis amounts to a handful of days' worth of border encounters.
This small taste of the crisis is bringing nominally 'sanctuary'-supporting jurisdictions to their knees. Voters are angry. New York, where Democratic leaders have boasted of their sanctuary sophistication, is struggling mightily. Local counties are refusing to accept new migrants (including one led by a left-wing Democrat who previously lectured others about their bigotry, but who's been forced to retreat after alleged sexual assaults committed by migrants). So is the state's deep blue neighbor:
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday his state cannot take any migrants from New York City as the Biden administration seeks new locations to house them, including Garden State locations. "I don't see any scenario where we're going to be able to take in a program in Atlantic City or, frankly, elsewhere in the state," Murphy told News 12. Murphy was responding to a report the Atlantic City International Airport was one of 11 suggested federally owned locations that could be used by New York City to relocate some of the migrants officials say are overwhelming the "sanctuary" city..."We are already seeing folks in New Jersey that have probably swelled into Jersey from New York City or from other locations, but you need scale, enormous amount of federal support — resources that go beyond anything that we can afford — putting everything else aside," [Murphy] said. The statement by Murphy shows the political difficulties the Biden administration faces with the resettlement of migrants, who have streamed into the U.S. in the millions since the crisis began in 2021.
Is New Jersey's leftist governor another proponent of "sanctuary" policies, at least for political purposes? Indeed he is. But as we're seeing from coast to coast, these frauds don't really mean it. It's empty, virtue-signaling pandering, and nothing more. Garden State Democrats are stiff-arming New York's illegal immigrant spillover. Empire State Democrats are stuck, making interesting moves like this:
Families experiencing homelessness are packing up to move from one shelter to another as New York City tries to make room for incoming asylum seekers. Parents and kids waited around Friday outside a Bronx family shelter where many have been living for months. This week, shelter staff began telling them to pack up and get out. "They told us that we can't stay here no more. Like, other people need this space," an 18-year-old said. Some families have already been relocated to different shelters around the five boroughs. Others will be moved next week...It's not the first time this has happened. In August, DSS moved families out of a different Bronx shelter on a day's notice.
American homeless families are getting booted from shelters, in order to make room for illegal immigrants. That CBS News story, which employes the new "experiencing homelessness" activist terminology, also reports that other migrant families are also getting uprooted, in favor of a new influx of arrivals. How does all of this rate on the "compassion" and "equity" scale? Meanwhile, let's check in on another bluest-of-blue states:
Massachusetts officials overwhelmed by arriving migrants have activated the national guard as they scramble for more housing, while aid groups say they have been pushed to the limit and protests abound. Gov. Maura Healey mobilized 250 members of the Massachusetts National Guard on Thursday to help transport the latest wave of asylum seekers to shelters across the state. But much like the crisis overtaking the Big Apple, Massachusetts has nowhere near enough housing or resources currently available to accommodate the influx. “Right now, the non-profits that are in Massachusetts are stretched and so thin they cannot provide anymore staff,” state Sen. Jamie Eldridge told CBS News. While the National Guard can help with the lack of manpower, the state can do little to address the shortage of housing outside of creating new shelters, which local residents vehemently oppose.
Might the exquisitely progressive and equity-minded residents of Martha's Vineyard be interested in hosting another wave of migrants, for an indefinite period of time? If not, why not, pray tell? They enjoyed such play acting for about one day last time, then the illegal immigrants were swept out of sight and mind by state officials. I'll leave you with a reminder that the number of known got-aways (a separate statistic from the millions of yearly encounters on Biden's watch) is very likely to blow past 600,000 by the end of this fiscal year, exceeding last year's crisis-level totals. And this is the government operating directly to the the south of our border:
The Mexican police, military officers and others secretly colluded with a cartel that kidnapped 43 students, a case unsolved after nearly a decade. Wiretaps show just how much the authorities helped the cartel behind the mass abduction, and what led to it. It is perhaps Mexico’s most notorious cold case — 43 college students shot at by the police, forced into patrol cars, handed over to a drug cartel and never seen again. The mystery has haunted the nation for nearly a decade. How could a relatively unknown gang pull off one of the worst atrocities in Mexico’s recent history, with the help of the police and the military watching the mass abduction unfold in real time? A vast trove of about 23,000 unpublished text messages, witness testimony and investigative files obtained by The New York Times point to an answer: Just about every arm of government in that part of southern Mexico had been secretly working for the criminal group for months, putting the machinery of the state in the cartel’s hands and flattening any obstacle that got in its way. The police commanders whose officers snatched many of the students that night in 2014 had been taking direct orders from the drug traffickers, the text messages show. One of the commanders gave guns to cartel members, while another hunted down their rivals on command.
Mexico's current left-wing president has been meddling in US elections, issuing threats and trying to instruct Hispanic Americans to vote against candidates who dare to take a hard line on illegal immigration and the cartels who dominate his semi-failed country.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member