I wasn’t going to write again about immigration this week. However, this column is not actually about immigration. It’s about how the problem has come to reflect the tear in our society.
The House Committee on Surveillance and Government Reform drove points this month. The Republican-led panel held a session promoted as a “hearing with the Mayor of the Sanctuary.” Of course, this was not audible at all, but a command performance of bullying, injustice, conceit, hypocrisy. After all, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.
Committee chairperson, Kentucky Republican James Kommer, was opened on the premise that invited mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City were operating illegal shelters that actually burned the border crisis. He promised the mayor to be publicly responsible for “criminals” policies, setting the Republican majority on the committee to act neatly as prosecutors, judges and ju judges.
From a material perspective, it was another low bar for the stupid council. Republicans portrayed the mayor as a lawless obstacle to border security, in which ideological corruption puts his city at risk. The mayor rebutted, arguing that the policy of humanely treating immigrants that arrive is mischaracterized. As high school debate teams know, explanations are not comparable to sharp language and predictions. Jerry Connolly of Virginia, a ranking Democrat on the committee, summed it up exactly. “The premise of this hearing is wrong,” he said. “The idea that there are sanctuary cities that need to be punished is merely a war with urban America.”
The real hearing would have used the mayor’s concerns as the basis for bipartisan reform. It would have identified gaps and overlaps between federal, state and local immigration law enforcement agencies. The limited capabilities of the state and city would have recognized the ability to divert resources from local law enforcement to federal police. It would have been noting that Congress did not modify the American asylum system, detection capabilities, and immigration courts. And the cities used as dumping grounds would have realised that by providing basic shelters, food and healthcare to migrants, they made their communities safer by best managing the crisis rather than their production.
However, this was not a hearing. It was a free opportunity for Republicans to go viral for those returning home by kicking mayors of a few big city. It was a chance for a stumbling politician to talk about the witnesses, twist their words, and finish their sentences. Don’t worry about the mayor being not responsible for stopping intersections at the border. Don’t worry about all four mayors reporting a city crime fall. Don’t worry about everything saying they’ve worked with federal authorities to the fullest extent possible. Don’t worry about the experts at the Libertarian Cato Institute. He cited the reverse relationship between illegal immigration and crime, and testified that cities are being blamed for simply following the law.
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However, the camera was rolling and there was no appetite for nuance. Republicans fired pointy questions and demanded answers of yes or no. No one cared about constitutional questions, legal jurisdiction, or what these Congressional Republicans did in the mayor’s location. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, spent her time contributing to this question. “Do you think you’re on the right side of history when illegal aliens rape women?” But in a few hours, our own St. Petersburg Republican, our own Anna Paulina Luna, has gone further and announced that she will introduce four Democratic mayors to the Department of Justice to prison.
We have the name of the place that carries political opponents before the fake courts. They are called Russia, Cuba, Iran and North Korea. Luna needs to stick to what she knows, like chasing UFOs or finding a JFK murderer. The last thing America needs is to give Attorney General Pam Bondy another target. And if you get the opportunity, look at your hearing. It’s a slow picture of our democracy and totalitarianism in 2025.
