HOW IT STARTED: Next mayor wants NYC to be even more of a ‘sanctuary’ for illegal immigrants.
Every single one of the eight Democrats running for mayor vowed to protect illegal immigrants from deportation, solidifying the Big Apple’s often infamous status as a “sanctuary city.”
* * * * * * * *
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, the son of legal Taiwanese immigrants, said, “I appreciate anyone who comes to this country or New York City for a better life.”
And Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said migrants were his neighbors growing up in Queens.
“My mother worked two jobs to provide for the six of us and we had a group of undocumented residents that lived in our community,” Adams said.
The other candidates — city comptroller Scott Stringer, former Obama housing secretary Shaun Donovan and nonprofit leader Dianne Morales — also voiced their support for the Big Apple as a sanctuary city.
—The New York Post, June 2nd, 2021.
How it’s going: Fed-up Eric Adams sues bus companies for $700M to cover cost for over 33K migrants hauled to NYC.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration on Thursday sued 17 bus companies that have hauled more than 33,000 migrants from Texas to the Big Apple — claiming they should pony up the $700 million it cost the city to care for the asylum seekers.
The charter bus operators have earned “millions of dollars” from the Lone Star State while acting in “bad faith” to implement Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to transport migrants coming over the US-Mexico border to Democrat-run cities such as New York, Chicago and Denver, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit claims.
“These companies have violated state law by not paying the cost of caring for these migrants, and that’s why we are suing to recoup approximately $700 million already spent to care for migrants sent here in the last two years by Texas,” Adams said in a statement.
Roughly 33,600 migrants have been bused using these companies since the start of New York City’s migrant crisis in April 2022, according to the suit.
The coach companies were paid roughly $1,650 per person they transported — a bloated price tag that’s more than five times the average rate for one-way tickets from Texas to NYC, the suit claims.
—The NY Post, today.
This isn’t who we are. Adams clearly needs to reread the words on the Statue of Liberty — and his own promise that New York is a sanctuary city.
Earlier: Sanctuary Cities Seethe as Illegal Immigrants Actually Arrive.
The surest sign that public policies are simply virtue signals is when the messages don’t cost anything. The easiest way to tell when that signal starts to fail is to watch politicians flounder as the costs start to rise and voters demand relief.
It was free—and meaningless—for progressive churches to post banners calling themselves “nuclear free zones” during the Reagan era. Their dwindling congregations loved it. It was free, after George Floyd‘s murder, to post woke catechism signs on your front lawn, proclaiming “In this house, we believe: Black Lives Matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal” and so on. Maybe the neighbors gave you high-fives. And for years it has been free for deep-blue cities to proclaim themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants. That’s changing now that voters want some sanctuary for themselves.
Changes like this happen when voters realize the old virtue signals actually entail serious costs—and that they will have to pay them. That is exactly what’s happening in New York City and Washington D.C. now that Texas governor Greg Abbott is sending those cities a few busloads of illegal immigrants from his state.
These progressive bastions were silent when the Biden administration flew planeloads of illegal immigrants to suburban airports in the middle of the night. TV coverage was prohibited, and the arrivals were secretly dispersed. Abbott’s buses, by contrast, arrive downtown greeted by local TV crews. Now you can hear the politicians screech.
Because clearly, suing private bus operators is the most effective way to address sanctuary city concerns. Genius move!
Instead of suing the Frederal Government, Adams decides to go after private companies…
— Gianni (@giannipov) January 4, 2024
— Vet0917 – Dad, Husband, Ret. Navy War Vet 🇺🇸⚓️ (@Vet0917) January 4, 2024
h/t Ed Driscoll