Eventually, everyone wakes up to reality

By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press

Sooner or later, everyone wakes up to reality. Even those liberal officeholders in so-called sanctuary cities.

Take New York City Mayor Eric Adams (please) for the first example. As reported by Christian Wade for The Center Square, Adams acknowledged this week the city's sanctuary status should be changed to allow migrants charged with crimes to be turned over to federal immigration officials for deportation. Ya think?

Speaking at a community meeting this week, Adams said the city's policy that restricts cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials needs to be modified to weed out the migrants who commit serious crimes. 

"So if you commit a violent act we should be able to turn you over to ICE and have you deported," the Democrat mayor said. "Right now, we don't have the authority to do so." 

And whose fault is that?

According to Wade's report, "Adams said the NYPD is dealing with incidents involving migrants who are participating in robberies using mopeds with 'ghost' license plates to commit snatch-and-grab stick-ups across the city. Adams' remarks come amid rising concerns about crime in New York City amid a surge of migrants who have flocked to the city over the past year following a surge of immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border." 

Two weeks ago, a video of a group of migrants beating two NYPD officers fueled national outrage.

In the college town of Athens, Ga. this week, protesters called for Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz to resign after the murder of Augusta University nursing student Laken Hope Riley, allegedly by illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra of Venezuela.

According to the warrants, Riley was killed on Feb. 22. The warrants say Ibarra "physically" prevented Riley from making or completing a 911 call and used an "object" to cause great bodily harm, "disfiguring her skull." The warrants also indicate he dragged her body to a secluded area and concealed her death.

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Girtz argued with protesters who interrupted his press conference, calling for him to resign. 

"The blood is on your hands," one protester shouted before calling for a mass deportation of immigrants from the country.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (https://www.fairus.org/):

• On Jan. 30, Alonzo Pierre Mingo impersonated a delivery man to trick his way into home in Minneapolis, Minn. He demanded money and then shot three people in the head – Shannon Patricia Jungwirth, Mario Alberto Trejo Estrada and Jorge Alexander Reyes-Jungwirth – in front of two children under 5 who were in the house. In 2019, Mingo had been in ICE custody for firearms/ammo possession, which illegal aliens cannot possess. He was sentenced to a 57-month prison term in 2020 and let out on supervised release in February 2023.

• On Jan. 27, illegals attacked NYPD officers in the area of Times Square near many of the hotels converted by Mayor Adams into taxpayer-funded migrant shelters. Six illegals were arrested, and the first five suspects arrested were all released without bail. This is because New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg did not ask the judge to impose bail, even though each migrant’s offense was bail-eligible. One of them, Jhoan Boada, was caught smirking and giving the [double-barreled] middle finger to waiting news cameras as he was set free. 

Several of the illegal aliens were subsequently arrested in Phoenix, Ariz.

• On Jan. 9, ICE arrested Haitian national Pierre Lucard Emile for allegedly raping a developmentally disabled person in Boston, Mass. The illegal alien entered the U.S. in Brownsville, Texas and was simply released into the country with a Notice to Appear (NTA) after being deemed inadmissible. He had previously been arrested for the rape, but authorities ignored an ICE detainer and released him in November with an electronic monitoring tag.

These cases are just a few of this year's more serious criminal acts committed by illegals who have no business being in the United States.

The Biden administration has caused the worst border crisis in American history and placed Americans’ lives at risk by abandoning deterrent-focused immigration policies and proven border enforcement tools, according to the House Oversight Committee.

Thomas D. Homan, retired acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said: “President Biden is the first president to ever un-secure a border on purpose. The administration’s failure to enforce and uphold the laws as written by Congress are not just matters of legal debate but have led to unimaginable suffering and death for Americans and migrants alike. For three years, this administration has directed and overseen the implementation of an open-borders agenda that has resulted in a national security, humanitarian, public health and public safety catastrophe unlike any we have ever witnessed at America’s borders.”

Joseph B. Edlow, former acting director and chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said: “The Biden administration has waged war against the immigration system of the United States. The results speak for themselves. As each memorandum, regulatory action or policy decision is announced, the crisis at the southwest border grows exponentially. There is a direct correlation between these policies and the exploding number of encounters, the number of known (and unknown) got-aways, and backlogs at both USCIS and the immigration courts.”

Biden – or whoever is really setting administration policy – continues to double down on failed immigration policies and now seeks to needlessly waste billions of taxpayer dollars on a border crisis their policies created.

It is encouraging to see Democrat mayors and their erstwhile supporters beginning to wake up. Sanctuary cities were never the friend of the legitimate U.S. residents living there. They are nothing more than feigned wokeness to play to a political base.

That base is beginning to have a reality check. It's about time.

Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County's only locally owned and operated newspaper.