New Jersey’s Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy is pushing back on a plan to fly undocumented immigrants to his state, suggesting that New Jersey is now effectively off-limits to planned federal flights dropping off undocumented immigrants. It was a striking reversal for a politician who campaigned for office on the pledge that New Jersey will always be a sanctuary state. In 2017, he declared “We’ll be a sanctuary – not just city – but state.” However, it was easier to become a sanctuary state than a closed state. President Joe Biden’s authority trumps that of Murphy in the expected flights.
Notably, neither Murphy nor the media are alleging that Biden is “kidnapping” or “trafficking” in immigrants as has been the case with flights and buses sent by the governors of Texas and Florida.
Instead, Murphy (like other Democratic leaders of sanctuary cities and states) are simply declaring themselves effectively closed or, in the case of New York, shipping the immigrants to other cities.
There is a key legal distinction at play in these moves. States and cities can make themselves into sanctuary areas by passing a variety of laws supplying resources and easing burdens for undocumented persons. However, these federal flights can only be blocked under federal law. Presidents have considerable leeway under immigration laws and the Supreme Court has swatted down efforts by states to even enforce existing federal law. This authority preempts state authority in the area.
Murphy’s declaration followed a Biden administration disclosure of planned flights that include New Jersey’s Atlantic City International Airport among eleven facilities to receive undocumented persons.
Murphy said that he could not see how they could accept any such flights “in Atlantic City or frankly elsewhere in the state.”
Likewise, Republican Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson told Politico that “I will do my best to prevent this from happening. We can’t afford it. We’re a poor county. We’re one of the poorest counties in New Jersey. It’s not a burden I can put on our taxpayers.”
That opposition is a political rather than a legal matter short of some viable challenge under federal law. That seems highly unlikely since this is an ongoing federal programs as opposed to some new policy that might be subject to APA or other challenges. The Biden Administration could trigger even greater objections if it starts to ship these individuals to other states. In an election year, Biden may be leery of such political battles in purple states.
For the moment, the opposition of Murphy will likely have greater promise as a political rather than legal challenge.
This is where the ideology of open borders crashes into the reality of limited urban infrastructure. Unfortunately, the Democrats have never been big on reality. They have dishonestly used the race card whenever anyone protested Biden’s illegal immigration fiasco, but now they’re seeing what years of denying the problems of mass immigration leads to. These illegals are never going away, and this is the new normal. Biden has disrupted the lives of every single American for two reasons: to pay off his big corporate donors who want the cheap illegal labor; and to increase the Democratic voter base with the illegal useful idiots. Biden’s legacy will be one of destruction, from the US to Ukraine he has done nothing but destroy lives.
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye’.
If one knows the Bible and history, then you know there are poignant sayings to cover almost all events in the human experience.
We heard the dog whistles and the tsk, tsking from all the democratic states to the north, and California about these racist barbarians in the South and Southwest who were being inundated with over 7 million people crossing the border and were screaming about it. They were just racists, after all, and needed to know their place as their betters in D.C. made the “great decisions”.
Well how the worm has turned. Frankly the southern states should keep on shipping them as fast as they can. I mean that’s what big business wants so they can get 3rd world payouts for their workers and not have to actually move to the 3rd world. It’s a Win, Win.
Sort of reminds me about the civil right movement and all the hypocrites in the north who slammed the racist South, rightly, for their Jim Crow Laws when conditions in the North were just as bad but Jim Crow there was unofficial yet just as effective.
Rosie Parks who led the Montgomery Bus Boycott moved to Detroit in late 1957 and was later quoted as saying Detroit did not feel any different than Montgomery with the same amount of segregation in jobs and housing.
Hypocrisy is not a new phenomenon.
‘Holy ,what goes around comes around’, Batman!” Here in Florida we will have a little more than a year left of the good fortune of a governor who will let Miami be turned into San Francisco. After that the ‘Turdmasters’ will have a go at putting themselves in a position to do precisely that, aided and abetted by ‘Blue’ refugees who will bring their baggage with them.
That’s ‘who will not let Miami be turned into San Francisco’
A NIMBY move and a potential move by any politician but a TYPICAL move by a Democrat: pick and front the perceived popular cause until it ends up in your backyard.
Democrats clearly would never have come up with the ‘sanctuary’ concept if they had even an inclining that it would have affected their turfs/agendas in their political life time, right Eric Adams and Phil Murphy?
Is this new? Nope. Just think of the prior activities/organizations fronted by the Democrats and the apparent reversal once they were exposed:
1. Redlining
-an undercover FDR legacy
2. Segregation
-Woody Wilson institutionalized it and bragged about it
3. Klu Klux Klan
-the first Democrat paramilitary organization and the Democrat leader in the Senate until 2010 was a leader in the Klan
4. Opposition to busing
-remember that one Joe Biden? The ‘jungle’ aspect?
5. Opposition to anti-lynching laws during FDR’s time
-even Eleanor could not get FDR to federally ban lynching
6. And, of course, that truly Democrat institution: slavery.
-so Democrat, in fact, that the Democrats started a civil war over it. But since the ‘1619 project’ the Democrats have torn down all the statutes of their prior Democrat heroes. Fancy that…
Democrat voters, you are merely pawns…
Can you spell hypocrisy?
But, but, but…. I thought old joe assured us that the border was secure?
“Holy,’ around,” Batman!”
Because half of the electorate believes that sanctuary cities are fine, because 99% of the media is a virtue signaling mob, because ignorant people continue to vote for those who hate western values, we will continue down this road of utter destruction. Hypocrisy or not, the elites like Murphy, Biden, Mayorkas, et al, will never have to deal with the consequences of what they foist on their citizens.
To Randy Perkins: I could not have written a better summary of what is happening to the country! Spot on!
people realize that Democrats are importing millions of illegals to drive down wages to MAKE people poor…and FORCE them into failed cities like Newark, Camden, AC, Utica, etc?
Democrats need failure and poor people so they can SKIM the billions. Ask the cop being paid $250k in Newark…why the blacks there HAVE failed for 80 years?
Illegals and pushing drugs is to DESTROY America. If you vote Democrat…you are voting to DESTROY America
Look at San Francisco one of the richest cities in the world….with homeless, drugs, illegals, etc
@guyventner – Newark cop 250k?Your WAY off, you had to pull that one out of your mask. I can assure you those guys would love 250k a year. Please lobby on their behalf for 250k a year, please.
Buses work well.
Next – TRAIN LOADS !!!
Virtue signaling is easy when the costs are low. As is always the case, the value of a progressive clown’s virtue signal is zero.
The value may be zero, but the cost is astronomical.
Send them ALL to New Jersey to enjoy the beautiful beaches and sun. Lots of room in new Jersey.
Skyraider….Joe Bidens Rehoboth beach deserves a hundred thousand or so themselves….
there is NO ONE more hate filled, greedy, HYPOCRITE than a Democrat
cut 50% of federal spending
end all federal aid/loans to cities, states, colleges….make Democrats PAY for their failures!
Tax all non-profits where anyone gets $100k
Why not send illegal aliens to Ukraine to fight Russia?
better yet….send all democrats and their dependents!
Anonymous…….hmmm……. Autumn in Donetsk for illegals. I like the sound of that.You’ve got my vote!
Murphy don’t you care?
Not in my state. LOL
The primary purpose of the current administration’s purposeful and coordinated neglect of our immigration law is one component of the globalization movement’s efforts to weaken the obstacle of the United States and our concepts of individual rights. We are in their way.
This nation, its rennets and citizens are under siege.
tenets
Yesterday, I tried to imagine what it was like for someone in National Socialist-controlled Germany and Reich-occupied countries to hear pounding on their door and someone shouting “Raus!” As a conservative Christian, I do believe I will hear the English version of that one day in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the majority of our youth, I know how this plays out. Once the Wall came down, I really thought (naively, it seems) we would never see such terror in our country.
@Mary: Could you imagine witnessing an SS officer throwing an infant out of an apartment building’s window and firing after it with his pistol? You would have found the odyssey of my mother-in-law and father-in-law of blessed memory far more horrific than being just being ‘raused out’. That was the beginning for millions.
Hey Murphy, you voted for this clown. Elections have consequences, suck it up and do what you promised before you got elected. And the media wonders why we don’t trust politicians
Leftist politicians love Virtue signaling- except when reality beats them on the head with a 2×4😎😎😎
Hypocrisy is the most evident sign of stupidity and inanity. The Democrats display this in spades. They exude hypocrisy in so many of their policies with their fake “sanctuary” cities, their harm to the middle class, their inflation spiral and wage decay, their horrible behavior during Covid whether at the French Laundry or driving to their Michigan lake houses, and finally their voting for a man that is one of the most corrupt politicians. Murphy is just like the rest of them. Stop letting them and their propaganda Press manipulate you.
Karma…..don’t you just love it when it bites a Leftist on their hind ends!
In plain language if one does stupid things then one shall win stupid prizes……or…..if you are going to be stupid….you best be tough.