"Sanctuary Cities"

Good piece by Ron Brownstein.

Looks like Romney is pushing for this issue to be the Gay Marriage Equivalent of 2004 in 2008.

clipped from www.latimes.com His criticism draws on a legitimate concern: After 9/11, the nation has a greater incentive to identify everyone inside its borders, either legally or illegally. But turning city workers into immigration snoops won't advance that goal. If a mayor announces that he will check people's papers at police stations, school admission offices and emergency rooms, illegal immigrants are unlikely to line up in those places to be discovered and deported. They are more likely to abandon those services -- with dangerous consequences for all city residents. Some cities, by condemning federal immigration raids, have carried the "don't ask, don't tell" impulse to excess. But Romney has overreached too with his threats against "sanctuary cities" like New York (and presumably Los Angeles). Romney's aides won't say what New York should have done differently in its policy toward illegal immigrants. Maybe that's because the city, like many others, chose the most practical response available.