Friday, April 12, 2019

OK By Me

I know the idea behind the policy is horrific but like Libby I was a bit confused by the implicit assumption that unleashing immigrants on sanctuary cities was actually some kind of punishment. I get that Stephen Miller thinks this because he is a big racist who doesn't want your melanin getting anywhere near him because it might be contagious but the articles should have actually asked what the point was.

It would be great if either of the stories had pressed their sources a little more to explain exactly how these officials—led, reportedly, by Stephen Miller—thought that busing migrants to those cities would be a punishment in any way. Did Stephen think that releasing busloads of migrants in San Francisco or New York would instantly cause the city to collapse into a dystopian, crime-ridden hellscape? Did he think that they would eat all the famous New York pizza?

A premise like “busing migrants to San Francisco will punish Nancy Pelosi” is not self-explanatory. I do not immediately understand the mechanism by which releasing a tired, huddled mass of immigrants in cities with massive populations—and cities where asylum approval rates are much higher—would punish their representatives.