Rally For The Rule Of Law — Say NO to Sanctuary City

The “welcoming city” resolution is on the Yakima City Council’s agenda for Tuesday night and we’ve already told you about the enormous and negative response to the idea on social media.  Well, add to that another  8,100 people who read our latest Facebook post. The bottom line for me is that, short of a citywide vote at the polls, this is the largest, loudest, clearest message that Yakima has sent to the City Council in a long time.  I don’t have access to the number of emails, texts, tweets and calls council members themselves have received, but I hope it’s as many as we all see flying around the internet.

By any name -- sanctuary, refugee or welcoming city -- it’s wrong for city policy to make special exception for people “regardless of immigration status.” It doesn’t make you a racist or a bad person to want the rule of law to be respected and enforced.  It is essential to a fair and free society. Read the words of former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter: “There can be no free society without law administered through an independent judiciary. If one man can be allowed to determine for himself what is law, every man can. That means first chaos, then tyranny." -- United States v. United Mine Workers (1947)”

Here’s an interesting way to look at the problem of picking and choosing which laws to enforce or ignore.  Victor Davis Hanson writes for PJ Media.

“Much of the rural West opposes the Endangered Species Act. Can Wyoming declare that federally protected rats and bugs are not protected inside its state borders, when such pests obstruct construction of dams or highways? Many conservatives oppose federal restrictions on gun sales. Could Oklahoma City declare handgun purchases within its city-limits free of federal firearms statutes? Perhaps Little Rock could ignore a Supreme Court ruling and announce that gay marriage is not legal within its jurisdiction.”

Immigration laws are on the books for a purpose.  A sovereign nation has the right and the responsibility to control the flow of immigrants into the country in such a way that for the most part, asylum seekers aside, they are boon and benefit to the nation.  A country has the right to think of its citizens first in employment, health, education and opportunity.  American should not be expected to subsidize immigrants at tax payer expense to the financial advantage of private professions or entities.  We have fair federal programs for that.

Statistics are all over the place on the cost and benefits of illegal immigration. Research, do your homework and pick a source you believe.

I believe analysis from the Heritage Foundation as reported in the Daily Signal, which says a recent report by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a privately run think-tank shows a 75-year fiscal projections for new immigrants and their descendants.

“The fiscal impact varies greatly according to the education level of the immigrant. Low-skill immigrants are shown to impose substantial fiscal costs that extend far into the future. The future government benefits they will receive greatly exceed the taxes they will pay.

On average, a non-elderly adult immigrant without a high school diploma entering the U.S. will create a net fiscal cost (benefits received will exceed taxes paid) in both the current generation and second generation. The average net present value of the fiscal cost of such an immigrant is estimated at $231,000, a cost that must be paid by U.S. taxpayers. “

The report shows how the annual cost of legal and illegal immigration to state and local taxpayers is at least $57 billion, and that each unskilled immigrant is a net loss to taxpayers for the next 75 years.

Do our nation’s immigration laws and systems need review and change? Yes. Should we support that? Yes. In the meantime, should the City Council change the face and philosophy of our city to the world as a place that subverts the rule of law?  No, and it’s up to you to help stop that.  The council meeting starts at 6 on Tuesday night. Get there early, rally for the TV press, then attend the meeting and take your 3 minutes of allotted time to make your case.

Remember, we aren’t bad people and we aren’t racists, so act with the courtesy and respect you want the council to show to you and your concerns.  We are Yakima citizens, some of the most generous and welcoming people in the country who just happen to believe in conservative values that include respect for the rule of law.

We didn’t cause the problems associated with illegal immigration and we shouldn’t be expected to pay for them or put up with them.  The council is supposed to represent you, not their personal or political agendas.

The kindest and safest thing you can do for all is to assure everyone the rule of law is in effect in the city of Yakima.