By Robert Hornak
President-Elect Trump has promised that addressing our border crises and removing illegal aliens will be two of his top priorities. Meanwhile, mayors of sanctuary cities around the country are bloviating and beating their chests claiming they will stop the federal government from enforcing our nation’s immigration laws.
The one place without this false bravado is New York, which has been the hardest hit of any state in the country. With over 600,000 illegals that have been identified – more than one-third of those in NYC alone – billions of dollars are being wasted in NY to accommodate people who did not have permission to enter our country.
This may be part of the reason that both the governor and mayor are not bellowing that they will obstruct Trumps efforts, a promise that was in large part why he was re-elected. But it may go deeper than that.
Sanctuary policies have been with us for decades. And, initially, for a good reason. We realized people here illegally were afraid to report crimes or testify in trials due to the fear of being identified and deported. They were the perfect victims for predators. A clear policy that we would not even look at their immigration status while they cooperate in criminal prosecutions made perfect sense to fight crime.
But recently, with the growing anti-police, pro-criminal attitude by officeholders in cities around the country, these policies have morphed into an opposition to cooperating with federal authorities, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even regarding gang members and those committing serious crimes.
Former Governor Cuomo even went so far as to call ICE agents thugs and declared emphatically he would not cooperate with them in any way. However, the attitude in NY seems to be changing, now that the crisis has taken an incredible toll on both the city and state budgets. But more importantly, it may be taking a toll at the ballot box. And that, of course, is what really gets the attention of politicians.
They realize that Trump has a tremendous arsenal at his disposal of ways he can force the hand of anyone trying to block legal efforts to take illegal immigrants into custody. Trying to play the weaker position in this standoff could push NY, already trending deep purple, to go over the brink and become a red state again.
NY is always looking for funding from the president for any number of projects and to close budget gaps. Hochul is also trying to launch the MTA’s congestion pricing scheme, taxing drivers for entering Manhattan in a controversial cash grab. Trump has promised to block this plan and may very possibly be able to. NY could be severely financially penalized for not cooperating, in many ways.
Trump also has law enforcement on his side. While many cities now have laws against cooperating with ICE and block federal authorities from accessing the local jails, federal law has supremacy. The courts will be on Trump’s side. And, there is nothing preventing them from asking for “unofficial” help and setting up a whistleblower hotline for law enforcement and court officers.
NYC was recently reported to have 58,000 illegals who are either convicted felons or facing criminal charges, including 1,000 gang members. This has directly contributed to the decline in the quality of life and the feeling of lawlessness felt by both residents and commuters.
This has directly contributed to the results in the last two statewide elections. Democrats worried about their re-election because of declining public safety and reduced public services from overblown budgets are going to make their peace with the mistakes of the past and work with President Trump to clean up this mess.
Robert Hornak is a professional political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @RobertHornak on X.
