It’s always good to hear from Planet Seattle.
The city of Seattle sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday over its executive order seeking to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary cities,” arguing it amounted to unconstitutional federal coercion.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray told reporters the Constitution forbade the federal government from pressuring cities, “yet that is exactly what the president’s order does…”
“It is time for cities to stand up and ask the courts to put an end to the anxiety in our cities and the chaos in our system.”
This is an interesting argument. The mayor of a sanctuary city is complaining about a loss of federal funds. He wants to make a point of flouting federal immigration law, which is what “sanctuary city” means, yet he’s whining that the federal goodies are about to stop pouring in.
I think Seattle, and every other American city, should be allowed to run things the way they see fit. I don’t think they should have to defer to somebody they’ll never meet, thousands of miles away. But that also means they should pay for it themselves. If you’re not going to obey federal law, why should you get federal money?
If you want a bunch of illegal aliens living in your city, fine. Just don’t make the rest of us pay for it.