This was summed up by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who in 1932 described how "a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." From that was born the idea of states as "laboratories of democracy," a practice that continues today.
For several decades, a collection of progressive states, counties and cities have conducted an experiment called sanctuary policies. Based on a preponderance of evidence, especially in the last few years, it is time to declare America’s experiment with sanctuary policies to be a complete failure and seek a better way.
The theory must have sounded great when articulated in the faculty lounges of places like Oberlin and Columbia. The idea of defying federal immigration law and shielding those here illegally from consequences no doubt stroked the egos of intellectuals who see themselves as having superior levels of compassion and charity. Those opposed to the idea were dismissed as captive to the darker human instinct towards "otherism" and xenophobia.
As is often the case, however, theory and reality are two very different things. Sanctuary policies in practice have been a disaster, resulting in overcrowding, more crime, maxed out city budgets and unbearable tension in the communities where they are practiced.
New York City has become the cautionary tale for this failure. City leaders long thought that, by its sheer size, resources and welcoming spirit, Gotham could absorb the additional illegal alien arrivals who would be drawn to the city’s permissive atmosphere.
That all changed in the summer of 2022, when the governors of Texas and Florida sent busloads of aliens to New York. Within weeks the city was on its knees, forcing Mayor Eric Adams, a supporter of sanctuary policies, to beg the White House for a financial bailout. He also pressured, then sued, upstate, non-sanctuary New York communities to accept his city’s overflow.
In short, it was a complete repudiation of sanctuary policies, as well as the tiresome bumper sticker line that "Immigrants make communities stronger." Would anyone argue that New York is stronger today as a result of its sanctuary policies? On the contrary, it has never looked weaker.
Even before the full impact of the migrant influx to the city last summer, the Immigration Reform Law Institute named New York City as the most dangerous sanctuary community in America.