Can we finally agree that sanctuary cities are a failed experiment?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Since its founding, America has had a leg up on other countries because of its willingness to think boldly and try new things.
This was summed up by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who in 1932 described how "a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." From that was born the idea of states as "laboratories of democracy," a practice that continues today.
For several decades, a collection of progressive states, counties and cities have conducted an experiment called sanctuary policies. Based on a preponderance of evidence, especially in the last few years, it is time to declare America's experiment with sanctuary policies to be a complete failure and seek a better way.
The theory must have sounded great when articulated in the faculty lounges of places like Oberlin and Columbia. The idea of defying federal immigration law and shielding those here illegally from consequences no doubt stroked the egos of intellectuals who see themselves as having superior levels of compassion and charity. Those opposed to the idea were dismissed as captive to the darker human instinct towards "otherism" and xenophobia.
As is often the case, however, theory and reality are two very different things. Sanctuary policies in practice have been a disaster, resulting in overcrowding, more crime, maxed out city budgets and unbearable tension in the communities where they are practiced.
New York City has become the cautionary tale for this failure. City leaders long thought that, by its sheer size, resources and welcoming spirit, Gotham could absorb the additional illegal alien arrivals who would be drawn to the city's permissive atmosphere.
That all changed in the summer of 2022, when the governors of Texas and Florida sent busloads of aliens to New York. Within weeks the city was on its knees, forcing Mayor Eric Adams, a supporter of sanctuary policies, to beg the White House for a financial bailout. He also pressured, then sued, upstate, non-sanctuary New York communities to accept his city's overflow.
In short, it was a complete repudiation of sanctuary policies, as well as the tiresome bumper sticker line that "Immigrants make communities stronger." Would anyone argue that New York is stronger today as a result of its sanctuary policies? On the contrary, it has never looked weaker.
Even before the full impact of the migrant influx to the city last summer, the Immigration Reform Law Institute named New York City as the most dangerous sanctuary community in America.
The situation is not much better in Chicago, which, like New York, dove head first into sanctuary madness. The policy has resulted in scenes of migrants sleeping on the floor en masse in police stations and fights breaking out at overcrowded shelters. Conditions there as a result of the border stampede have gotten so bad that Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democrat, is calling for the city to end its sanctuary policy.
Seeing this sad spectacle, some may argue that the residents of those cities got the policies they voted for. That is true, and fulfills the "if its citizens choose" portion of the laboratories of democracy quote from Justice Brandeis.
However, there is increasing evidence of buyers' remorse from those residents. A recent poll of New Yorkers found that 82% of Empire State voters said the flow of migrants to the state is a serious problem. Fifty-eight percent said that New Yorkers have already done enough for new migrants and should now work to slow the flow of migrants to New York. For a deep blue state like New York, this is what is known as a sea change of public opinion.
There is a similar tone in Chicago, where town hall meetings have erupted with angry residents venting their frustrations at city officials over the mess that sanctuary laws have produced in their city.
Much like how banks undergo stress tests to measure their stability, the Biden-caused border crisis has been a chance for America's sanctuary cities to match their rhetoric with results, and they have failed miserably. Whatever the intentions behind them, sanctuary policies are doomed to produce horrible outcomes wherever they are implemented.
Like the residents of New York and Chicago, the rest of America must stand and tell their elected leaders that this failed experiment is over.
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The Biden admin doing everything it can to flood the country with illegal immigrants is a failed experiment.
But still part of the plan😡
How long before we start hearing about "comprehensive immigration reform" and calls for mass amnesty?
Yep.
Biden and the Democrats have to increase their sagging voter base somehow. They did this to themselves. People got what they voted for.
Could be considered treason, the way some use that word
Is it really though?
How many has Biden allowed in?
How many have snuck in?
Maybe the goal was to have so many of them here and tie the courts up for so long that America finally grows weary of the bickering and just gives in to the mass amnesty program liberals want?
You know, fuck things up so badly we almost HAVE to start over?
Good point. I think the only part that actually failed was they didn’t expect the mayor of New York and their thought leaders on the view to start talking about illegal immigration (in their backyards at least) like Donald trump.
I fully expect Adams to start spouting the party line now.
He and Biden must have worked out some deal, because Adams switched it up and started blaming the GOP after talking to Biden.
But the damage has been done--even Democratic mayors of sanctuary cities now who is responsible.
And1/3 of the people who mindlessly parrot Democratic talking points or are just plain ignorant will do the same. The rest of us who've paid even minimal attention to the world know Biden and the Democrats literally invited illegal aliens in, and have spent the last decade plus doing everything they can to undermine border security, prevent criminals from being deported and work for amnesty.
But to your point, I remember seeing something the other day how much these cities are spending on illegals and how much of it is going to Democratic special interest groups. Tens of millions to NGOs and advocacy groups that tighten the bond between the party and the illegal alien movement. It's like anything education, they use taxpayer money to enrich themselves and their supporters while binding people to the party through handouts.
I don't know that a Democrat has ever met a voter he didn't try to buy.
Exactly how does that "curb the flow of illegal immigrants at the southern border "?...
Just a move to placate sanctuary Democratic mayors and governors.
Abbott has made the nation take notice of the border crisis, and Democrats just can't stand the truth, so now it must be time to punish the border state!