In 2018, Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney danced a jig in his office following a ruling by a federal judge affirming its status as a sanctuary city.
Needless to say, I think @janeslusser and @PhillyMayor are pretty excited about today’s ruling affirming Philadelphia as a Sanctuary City. pic.twitter.com/gdnnjZT9ps
— Steve Preston (@StevePrest) June 6, 2018
I wonder if he’ll still be dancing after Texas Governor Greg Abbott sends a few thousand illegal immigrants his way in his latest effort to force Washington and blue states to pay attention to the border crisis.
That crisis is about to get much worse with the imminent lifting of the pandemic-era border rule — Title 42 — that kept about a third of illegal aliens from crossing the border. Last March, the Department of Homeland Security conducted a study that showed up to 18,000 illegal aliens a day would try to cross the border once the rule was lifted. At present, about 2,000 illegal aliens a day try to cross the border.
Biden has left Abbott and other border governors largely fending for themselves. All Abbott can do is pull stunts like the one on Wednesday, where he sent a bus full of 28 illegal aliens captured at the border and released in Texas into Philadelphia to let Mayor Kenney deal with them.
Many are from Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic and were screened by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Five people making up two families said they planned to stay in the city while the rest stated their intention to travel to neighboring states, officials said.
“I’m very pleased with the high level of coordination occurring to best welcome individuals seeking asylum to Philadelphia, where they are and will always be welcomed,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. “We are proud to protect the rights and dignity of our newly arrived neighbors. Today, months of planning with local partners paid off and we have been able to successfully welcome, assist, and provide support to families hoping to build a new life.”
He didn’t say anything about calling the White House begging for help, like New York Mayor Eric Adams and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser did after a few busloads of illegals arrived. Give it time, Jimmy.
However, Kenney was anything but grateful to Abbott, calling the stunt “cruel and racist.” Abbott pushed back, saying, “Kenney has long-celebrated and fought for sanctuary city status, making the city an ideal addition to Texas’ list of drop-off locations.”
I have a difficult time understanding why it’s OK to declare your city a “sanctuary city” but not OK to give you an opportunity to prove it. Kenney and other blue-state mayors are inviting illegal aliens to come to the United States, telling them they won’t cooperate with ICE, that our cops won’t arrest them, that we’ll give them the same benefits and government goodies we give citizens.
And then they complain when someone forces them to make good on those promises.
The Texas border towns don’t get the opportunity to claim that it’s “racist” to send illegal aliens their way. They are bound by the law to care for them. The government may be giving them money and emergency help from FEMA, and NGOs may be helping where they can, but Biden is doing absolutely nothing to limit or control the crisis. The flow of humanity across our border continues unabated.
Abbott’s gambit may not be an ideal way to protest this untenable situation. But it’s literally all he’s got, and he should continue it until Democrats in Washington come up with a solid plan to address this crisis before it turns into a humanitarian catastrophe.
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