The fight over sanctuary cities is a good fight to have

For Republicans, the fight over sanctuary cities is a good fight. On March 27, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would withhold Justice Department grants to jurisdictions that do not comply with existing immigration laws. What could make better sense?

The administration’s commitment to enforcing the laws on the books offers a vivid contrast between common-sense Republicans and condescending, indifferent and clueless Democrats. In the past two years, there have been several well-reported tragic stories in which illegal aliens committed crimes ranging from assault and burglary to rape and murder only to be ignored by liberal activists and leftist Democrats in Washington and around the country. These criminals should have been deported. But rather than work with Republicans to enforce the law, liberals would rather aid crime, protect criminals and defend the indefensible torment brought upon the very people they are supposed to represent.

Sessions is on the right track in leading the fight. In response to the notoriously liberal U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit’s recent decision regarding the administration’s policy on sanctuary cities, Sessions articulated with clear conviction, “The Department of Justice cannot accept such a result, and as the President has made clear, we will continue to litigate this case to vindicate the law.” Simply put, the court’s ruling enables elected officials to break the law and undermine public safety.

The left is hyperventilating and pretending they care about the stress and strain that law enforcement officers will feel if they are required to enforce laws that are already on the books. If anything, law enforcement in liberal jurisdictions are stressed because they are often forced to look the other way when they know a dangerous element is roaming free within the population that they are sworn to serve and protect. In sanctuary cities, police are often put in a position where they can only act if summoned by a 911 call after the fact.

Again, the fight over sanctuary cities is the right fight to have if for no other reason than Democrats’ position is so indefensible and it perfectly crystallizes the left’s view of the world in which liberal favoritism for illegal aliens should be pursued no matter the consequence.

In Washington and at the state and local level, leaders of the Democratic Party perpetuate the sanctuary city movement while usually living comfortably in the best communities, leaving a criminal element on the street where everyday citizens are forced to take their chances. It says something about the decayed thinking of the American left when it can’t support what is so common-sensically the right thing to do: defending American citizens from foreigners who violate American law.

Sessions should have vocal allies in Congress on this front, and every Republican ought to have something to say about the issue of sanctuary cities. From a partisan point of view, this fight is a no-brainer. It is a good example of Democrats doing what we want them to do — they’ve exposed whose side they are on and reinforced their worst stereotype. And the more Republicans raise the issue, the more the Democrats will defend the indefensible.