What is a ‘Sanctuary City,’ and what does that actually mean for a city like Portland, Oregon? / Part 1

A ‘Sanctuary City’ or in some instances a ‘Sanctuary State’ has a stated policy to protect illegal immigrants by not enforcing federal law or cooperating with federal law enforcement agencies in immigration related enforcement.  That policy can be expressly set forth as a law or just observed in practice.

Why do cities or states do that?  The elected officials have two basic reasons that actually have little or nothing to do with compassion.  However, ‘compassion’ is the song they sing – often associated with ‘crocodile tears.’

Reason #1:  Cities have influential citizens (the political donor class) who, for business reasons, require a considerable influx of cheap, hardworking, dependable labor.  And, incidentally, it doesn’t hurt for the employer to have a little extra leverage in dealing with these workers (‘illegals’). The employers that I’m referring to are the owners and managers of hotels, motels, restaurants, construction operations of all types, as well as landscape and maintenance, ad infinitum.  Said ‘illegals’ are not normally public employees in the immediate sense, but work for the countless companies that contract with the city and / or support the tourist industry.

Reason #2:  The majority of the city’s voting constituency is in support of the ‘sanctuary city’ concept, even though the vast majority of the public does not understand what is involved, what it means, or how that might personally impact them.

The typical Mayor of a city, such as Portland’s Mayor, Ted Wheeler, would principally focus on ‘reason number one;’ because ‘reason number 2’ could be easily neutralized or eliminated by any good PR firm.  Besides ‘reason one’ is where the money is.

In my previous post, I referred to Ted Wheeler as ignorant or stupid because of some of his recent comments and his strong support for the ‘sanctuary city program;’ as well as his strident comments to defy President Trump - regardless of the potential loss of federal funds and the impact those lost funds will have on City residents.

OK, the Mayor isn’t stupid.  Well, maybe, if you want to use Forrest Gump’s definition; and perhaps I’m tending to give the Mayor too much credit.  Forrest Gump might be right.

  

FG:  “Stupid is as stupid does.”

For Reference:  My previous post.

__________

Next, I would like to discuss the law enforcement issues.

To be continued…

True Nelson