 |
| The City Council felt compelled this week to dump on Gov. Bruce Rauner |
They’re
all feeling the need to “talk tough” and claim they’re going to bar any
refugees of Syrian nationality from being able to enter their states – because supposedly
it was the Syrians who were behind the plot to cause so many attacks on Paris
last week.
OF
COURSE, THAT’S nonsense. But then again, there’s rarely ever any logic behind
purely political partisan rhetoric.
So
with Illinois officially on the side of the ideologues, Chicago felt compelled
to take the opposite side.
Which
is why the City Council passed a resolution that says the “sanctuary city”
status that already applies to immigration matters also applies now to Syrian
citizens.
If
they come here, they will be welcomed. Or at the very least, they won’t be
harassed.
NOW
I’LL BE the first to admit this sanctuary city status is as cheap a political
statement as all the talk of refusing to permit Syrian refugees to enter the
state.
Just
as how state governments really don’t have the authority to close their borders
to anyone, the city doesn’t really have the power to grant services to those
refugees in need – particularly considering how financially strapped the city
is in offering the municipal services it already is obligated to provide.
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| RAUNER: Envision his irate call to Rahm |
This
is all pure symbolism. Our city officials are letting it be known publicly how
full of it they believe the governor to be for getting Illinois mixed up on
this particular political issue.
The
fact that it merely enhances the regional split between the urban and rural
parts of Illinois (the latter of which account for roughly one-third of the
state’s population – even though they prefer to think of it as 96 of the state’s
102 counties) is just a side benefit, I’m sure.
ON
A PERSONAL level, I’m pleased with the City Council’s stance – even though I
admit it changes nothing (except allowing President Barack Obama to excuse his
home city from the nonsense his home region is participating in).
 |
| EMANUEL: Envision a wicked cackle in response |
In
that with all the Great Lakes states’ governors (except Minnesota) feeling the
need to take this anti-Syrian stance and turning the region into a collective
of nitwit-ish behavior, it is nice to be able to state the obvious difference
that Chicago has.
And
considering that I suspect most refugees who head this way would likely be
headed for Chicago (I doubt they’re going for Cairo or Thebes – the Southern
Illinois versions), we ought to make the collective statement of our sympathy
for those people who are trying to escape the nonsense of their home nations
that we are legitimately opposed to.
As
for the fact that those conservative ideologues will now want to trash Chicago,
well what else is new? Those kind of people are the ones who always want to
isolate themselves in pockets of the state and nation that are cut off from the
real world.
THE
FACT THAT they see us as different is probably all the more evidence that we in
Chicago are doing something right!
As
for sanctuary city status, all it means for immigration is that the local
authorities don’t join in with federal immigration officials in scouring out
people for the feds to initiate deportation hearings against.
Which
I suspect is what it also means for those Syrian nationals who wind up in
Chicago. So long as they cause no trouble and merely try to integrate themselves
into the larger mass that is Chicago, they will not be harassed by authorities.
They will be left alone.
Isn’t
that what the “American Way” of life is supposed to be about?
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