SAUNDERS: Sanctuary cities, Venezuelan gangs and ‘suicidal empathy’

WASHINGTON

If you think of Joe Biden as a nice old man who was kicked to the curb, consider his administration’s jaw-dropping efforts to sabotage Donald Trump.

The president-elect plans to actually enforce federal immigration law starting Jan. 20, when Trump takes the oath of office. As the New York Post reported Thursday, Team Biden “is quietly rushing to implement new policies that will loosen restrictions on migrants who entered the US illegally — a parting attempt to thwart President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and deportation,” according to sources.

For some time now, New York has been ground zero — with horror stories to show for it.

On Wednesday, a New York prosecutor was robbed by a Venezuelan migrant with a Big Apple rap sheet and suspected ties to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He also was charged with masturbating in front of her.

“He arrived here in New York in June and has managed to get arrested seven times since June, and at one point was smiling, and is smiling now, and I observed him laughing during the proceeding,” Judge Janet McDonnell noted during the hearing, according to the Post.

Be it noted, New York is a sanctuary city. So it should be no surprise that that more than 210,000 migrants have landed in the Big Apple since 2022.

The city has been unable to house all the newcomers, so many are sleeping on the streets.

In August, The New York Times reported, the city housed people in more than 100 hotels, with 16,000 hotel rooms serving as shelters.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the right idea. He declared Tren de Aragua a “terrorist organization.” So which state looks better to transnational gangs?

The crisis was inevitable. On his first day as president, Biden ordered a 100-day pause on deportations and gave the green light to illegal crossings when he halted Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program — with little thought of the impact on American citizens, native and foreign-born.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 10.5 million encounters at the border during Biden’s tenure.

“It is clear that the Biden administration has used unlawful mass-parole programs to shift hundreds of thousands of inadmissible aliens to ports of entry for release into the interior, often with little or no vetting. The end result is the same — a continuing, historic border crisis,” the House Committee on Homeland Security warned in May.

It’s no wonder that Trump campaigned on the pledge to order “mass deportations” — and it’s no wonder that he won in November.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is one of many blue-city mayors who have pledged to resist Trump’s planned deportations. He warned that if federal officials implement Trump’s plan, the Mile High City could see a “Tiananmen Square moment” — Denver police could be “stationed at the county line.”

Johnston also maintained his sanctuary city would not be “bullied” into changing its values.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told MSNBC, “Every tool in the tool box is going to be used to protect our citizens, to protect our residents and protect our states and certainly hold the line on democracy and rule of law.”

Problem: Illegal immigrants are not citizens, governor — and Trump’s goal is to enforce the rule of law. If Healey and Johnston don’t want federal officials to deport illegal migrants — Trump-designated “border czar” Tom Homan plans to start with a focus on illegal migrants with criminal records — they should organize to change the law.

I should use this moment to note that many migrants who cross over illegally are looking for a better life. America is better because of its tradition of welcoming newcomers. There are laws in place to vet and approve would-be Americans, and it doesn’t make sense to reward newcomers who don’t respect those laws — especially when the numbers and lack of vetting have downgraded the qualify of life in heavily impacted areas.

Former NBC News anchor Brian Williams showed he understands what is at stake when he said on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” that Biden’s “biggest unforced error” was the border.

“To tell people it’s not a problem, it’s insulting,” Williams added.

And: “For the working class to see incoming migrants getting welcome bags, debit cards and motel rooms is probably insulting as well.”

Williams had a term for this phenomenon: “suicidal empathy.”

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.