Marc Thiessen: Trump is right to call out Democrats for their hypocrisy on sanctuary cities

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/thiessen-trump-sanctuary-cities

It is mystifying why Democrats are so up in arms about President Trump's
declaration that he is considering releasing illegal immigrants into so-
called "sanctuary cities." After all, Trump's plan simply follows the
Democrats' own policy prescriptions for dealing with illegal immigrants.

First, Democrats support releasing illegal immigrants into U.S.
communities. Just a few months ago, during the negotiations to end the
government shutdown, Democrats sought to limit the number of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention "beds available for interior
enforcement" to about 16,500 per day, and to reduce the overall number of
available beds to less than 36,000. In January, ICE was holding 48,088
illegal immigrants.

When Homeland Security officials warned this could force the release of
thousands illegal immigrants, Democrats openly declared it was their goal
to do precisely that. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chairs the
House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, said the goal of
capping the beds was to "force the Trump administration to prioritize
deportation for criminals and people who pose real security threats, not
law-abiding immigrants."

Many other leading Democrats -- including presidential candidates Sens.
Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., -- have gone
further, proposing to abolish ICE altogether. In 2013, when she was House
minority leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., -- now the House speaker --
called for an end to deportations for illegal immigrants who have not
committed felonies, declaring "Our view of the law is that … if somebody
is here without sufficient documentation, that is not reason for
deportation."

Some Democrats, including California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and
presidential candidate and former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, have
gone so far as to propose decriminalizing illegal border crossings
entirely. "The truth is, immigrants seeking refuge in our country ...
shouldn't be a criminal justice issue," Castro said.

If Democrats won't help the president secure the border, then there's
nothing outrageous about making them live with the consequences of the
policies they advocate.

So, Democrats have been pretty clear -- they want illegal immigrants
released and allowed to live in the United States.

Where should they live? Well, it was Democrats who created "sanctuary
cities" as sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. If they want illegal
immigrants released, why would they oppose having President Trump release
them into the very sanctuaries they created for that express purpose?

If anything, the Democratic leaders of those sanctuary cities are working
overtime to turn them into magnets for illegal immigrants.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed in his 2019 inaugural
address to make the entire state of California a "sanctuary to all who
seek it," and on his first day in office, he proposed making illegal
immigrants eligible for Medi-Cal, the state's version of Medicaid, until
age 26.

Some sanctuary cities are even allowing illegal immigrants to vote in
local elections. In 2016, San Francisco passed Proposition N, which allows
illegal immigrants to vote in school board elections. And in 2017, College
Park, Md., became the largest U.S. city to allow illegal immigrants to
vote in municipal elections.

Sorry, Democrats, you don't get to have it both ways. You can't on one
hand try to force Trump to release illegal immigrants, create sanctuaries
for them and arrange local laws to encourage illegal immigrants to come to
those sanctuaries, and then simultaneously be outraged that Trump wants to
do exactly what you have said should be done with those who cross our
borders illegally.

Whether Trump can legally follow through on his proposal to send illegal
immigrants to sanctuary cities is in question. But there is nothing
morally wrong with what he has proposed. There is certainly no harm being
done to the illegal immigrants. Far from it, they would be sent to
welcoming communities where they would receive free health care,
protection from deportation and possibly even the right to vote. And then
the Americans who voted to turn their cities into magnets for illegal
immigrants could bear the costs of supporting them.

If anything, it is conservatives who should be up in arms over the idea of
releasing illegal immigrants into sanctuary cities. Once they are in
sanctuary cities, then it will be harder to find and deport the ones
committing violent crimes. Just ask the family of Kate Steinle.

Trump's plan likely won't ever come to fruition, but the president is
effectively calling out Democrats for their hypocrisy. There was a time
when many Democrats believed, as Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a
2009 speech, that "Illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple." No
longer. If Democrats won't help the president secure the border, then
there's nothing outrageous about making them live with the consequences of
the policies they advocate.



--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.

Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.

Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.

The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.

Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.