The congressional hearing this morning with Mayor Adams and the mayors of Boston, Chicago and Denver is a partisan Republican display designed to show that the four Democratic mayors are coddling dangerous and violent undocumented criminals who should be deported.
Adams and other mayors must explain to fire-breathing Chairman James Comer and his colleagues that the sanctuary policies in their cities do nothing of the kind and are meant to promote the safety and health of all residents.
To understand where Comer is taking the House Oversight Committee consider next Tuesday’s hearing: “Enhancing Federal, State, and Local Coordination in the Fight Against Criminal Illegal Aliens.”
Comer does not like “criminal illegal aliens,” (who does?) but the sanctuary practices in New York and elsewhere aren’t about shielding criminal illegal aliens.
Listen to how Comer has put it: “We’re going to bring the mayors in. We’re going to let them explain what their policies are, see if they can answer some questions as to who’s paying for this, who’s been in charge of this. What role is their local government played? Is the federal government involved? If they are going to continue to disobey the law, well then I think we should cut as much of their federal funding as we can cut.”
But Comer has already made up his mind: “The pro-illegal alien mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver, and New York City have implemented reckless, illegal policies that shield criminal aliens from federal immigration enforcement and endanger public safety. Criminal alien predators should not be free to roam our communities. State and local governments that refuse to comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts should not receive a penny of federal funding. President Trump and his administration are rightfully taking action against sanctuary cities.”
Sanctuary for criminals sure sounds bad, but that is not what sanctuary is. Sanctuary means that everyone, even if you overstayed a visa or crossed the border illegally, should seek medical attention if sick. Going to a doctor or clinic to the hospital will get your immigration infraction flagged for ICE. We want all people with communicable diseases like tuberculosis or hepatitis or measles (hello there Bobby Kennedy), to get treated rather than avoid medical care.
Sanctuary means anyone who is the victim of a crime or witness to crime should report it to the police and fully cooperate in the investigation to arrest and prosecute the offenders without worrying that an immigration problem will be the result of coming forward.
Sanctuary means that school-aged children must, following a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, be enrolled in public school regardless of the immigration status of the kids or their families. We don’t want illiterates growing up in our communities.
But Comer doesn’t care about any of this. He is obsessed with crime, violent crimes, dangerous crimes, gang crimes, sex crimes against children committed by criminal illegal aliens.
Adams must tell Comer that the NYPD shares the same goal of arresting violent and dangerous criminals, regardless of their immigration status. There is no sanctuary for those who commit felonies and the city fully cooperates with ICE in pursuing and apprehending wanted criminals.
As for the sanctuary policies related to health care and police reports, those must continue.