As President Trump won the election and took office, sanctuary cities around the country strengthened their resolve. They spoke publically and often about how they would protect illegal immigrants no matter what Trump threatened.
They may have truly expected Hillary to lie or cheat her way into office somehow. Their unthinkable happened though; Donald Trump took his oath and became our next President. Some of the cities still vowed to guard illegals, their cries sounding a little weaker as they realized that Trump was here to stay.
A few short days after he officially became President, the order was signed. The Executive Order not only pledged to build the long promised wall between Mexico and the U.S, it also set forth plans to strip federal funding from cities that continued to harbor illegals.
His plans, all of them, raised a lot of tempers. Liberals and immigration advocates called it a disgrace, saying that President Trump was jeopardizing millions of lives.
The White House responded predictably, Sean Spicer saying,
“The American people are no longer going to have to be forced to subsidize this disregard for our laws.”
Billions of tax dollars each year are funneled to these cities, most of them controlled by Democrats. Under Obama, they have been operating however they want, spending federal funds to take care of illegals while neglecting their own citizens.
Under intense opposition, one county has decided to get out while they still can. Miami-Dade County in Florida is the only county in the United States to have half its population be foreign born.
County commissioners upheld the mayor’s decision to cooperate with immigration officials on Friday. Cuban born Mayor Carlos Gimenez could not have come to the decision easily and the crowds’ cries of “shame on you” certainly didn’t help
Still, the county and its Mayor stood strong, the order passing with a vote of 9-3.
County Commissioner Rebecca Sosa, also Cuban, expressed a combination of regret and understanding;
“This is a country that opened arms to everyone, allowed opportunities to everyone. But this is also a country of law.”
Ultimately, that is what it comes down to. Liberals would like to make it about racism and bigotry but it boils down to law. We are the one of very few countries that has not been enforcing strict immigration policies. Even Mexico has a strong approach to people entering their country illegally.
Not only is the U.S lacking in border patrol, when illegals are caught, they are often released, even if they have been deported previously.
- Immigrants must “have the means to sustain themselves economically” and they must be “physically [and] mentally healthy.”
- “Foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country’s internal politics.”
- Immigrants must be of “economic and social benefit to society [and] of good character and have no criminal records.”
- Illegal immigration is a felony and “foreigners who are deported and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years.”
No, that isn’t President Trump’s list of new rules. Those are laws spelled out in Mexico’s immigration policies. Even a country that so many are desperate to escape doesn’t want people coming in without permission.
Chances are that the county of Miami-Dade is not surrendering its sanctuary status for those reasons. It is a financial decision but it also shows that President Trump can get his agenda accomplished.
Mayor Gimenez denied that his city was ever a sanctuary city. “Miami-Dade is not — has never considered itself — a sanctuary community.”
Whatever technicalities the lawyers call on, Miami-Dade did stop complying with detention requests from the federal government. Their reason being that the government refused to pay for the extra jail time. The county commissioners unanimously agreed to that plan in 2013.
That time, the 8 years of Obama, has passed. Gimenez’s new directive agrees that the county will hold inmates for ICE, even if the federal government doesn’t reimburse the expenses.
Many immigrants and their advocates spoke out at the meeting in Miami. Gimenez and Sosa made attempts to remind the gathering, “We’re talking about prisoners. We’re talking about people who committed crimes.”
This also echoes President Trump’s statement that illegals who are here committing crimes are the ones that need to be afraid. Unfortunately for children, this does mean that families are sometimes being broken apart.
Commissioner Javier Souto told immigrants that there was more they could do to protect themselves and their children, “Recommendation to everyone: Get your things in line.”
Many of the commissioners in Miami-Dade came as immigrants themselves and are sympathetic but also understand the law. President Trump himself is not cold-hearted, merely following the federal laws as they are written. People have grown too comfortable under a President who does not care for American citizens first.
If nothing else stops them, the threat or reality of losing federal money likely means that Miami-Dade will not be the last county or city to fall in line.
While some may find the decision unpopular or difficult, it is the lawful one. Cities who insist on protecting law breaking aliens will find themselves on the wrong side of the law as well.
