Rebellious Blue City Mayors Losing

The oddest thing----every morning newspaper headlines blare that another blue city has declared that its mayor will refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on removing criminal aliens from their communities. Boston’s Michelle Wu, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, and Denver’s Mike Johnson are among the mayors that feloniously insist on harboring illegal aliens. Then, on the evening news, anchors tell a different story. In Boston, ICE Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) apprehended Juan Alberto Rodezno-Marin, 39, a three-time deported Honduran national. Rodezno-Marin was charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, masked armed robbery, and assault to rape. At a January 28 press conference, Chicago’s Mayor Johnson announced that at least 100 illegal aliens had been arrested. And Denver’s Mayor Johnson, who had pledged to use the city’s police force to obstruct enforcement efforts, had his bluff called when ERO, working in tandem with DEA, arrested about 50 Tren de Aragua gangsters. The Denver busts netted cash, weapons, guns and drugs including Tusi or “pink cocaine,” a powerful narcotic that TDA has distributed across the U.S. Despite Boston, Chicago and Denver mayors’ grandstanding, most sanctuary city residents are happy to see ICE agents carry out its mission to “…to preserve national security and public safety.”

Pittsburgh, a self-proclaimed and coyly named welcoming community but not a sanctuary city, is the latest to join the resistance to ICE campaign. Mayor Ed Gainey reiterated that Pittsburgh will not be cooperating with federal immigration officials on any deportation actions they may embark on. “My administration will not work with ICE,” Gainey said during a PA Press Club event. “We will do whatever’s necessary to make our city more welcoming. That’s what we’re built on.” Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator David McCormick stated through his social media platform, "Gainey needs to follow the law and the lead of some other democratic mayors working to keep our cities safe."

During Gainey’s four-year term, Pittsburgh’s public schools’ test scores plunged. In reading, only 42% scored at or above proficiency; math was worse, 23%. Pittsburgh’s giant downtown office towers have sharply declined in value, bad news for the city and the tax revenues that are directed toward its struggling public schools. In one assessment appeal after another, some skyscrapers' values are being cut approximately in half, along with the taxes they need to pay to the city, county and school districts. The city's tallest skyscraper, the U.S. Steel Tower, was assessed at $233 million but its value today is $141 million, a $92 million decrease, PPG Place, once assessed at $179 million, has been reduced to $142 million, a $37 million decrease. "Right now, downtown real estate is not what it was worth two or three years ago and that's why you're seeing the massive reductions," said attorney Robert Peirce. During the COVID-19 scare, the value of those buildings plummeted. The owners of more than 50 downtown buildings have appealed their assessments and won huge reductions which means they'll be paying far less in taxes and are owed money for overpaying in the past two years. Last year, Pittsburgh’s City Council announced a $6 million proposal for a citywide master plan that opponents described as vague and wasteful.

Gainey’s battle versus the feds has an interesting twist. Elected in 2021, Gainey faces re-election this year, but he has no successes to point to. The city has struggled with perennial urban issues such as crime and escalating homelessness — but also has its own in-house complications like probes into alleged funds mismanagement during Gainey’s first years in office. Explaining Gainey’s embrace of illegal aliens in an election year will be a tough job for the incumbent. He wants to add illegal aliens to the Steel City’s population which will exacerbate Pittsburgh’s education and housing headaches. Gainey may have missed the obvious---that GOP waves arose in counties around Allegheny, swept Donald Trump back into the White House in part on Pennsylvania’s electoral votes and carried David McCormick to the U.S. Senate. Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor, a fellow Democrat, has posed a primary challenge to Gainey.

Following McCormick’s advice would work better for Gainey than whatever guidance his advisory team has given him. Harboring illegal immigrants is a federal felony, a side of the law that no political candidate should want to embrace. Moreover, illegal aliens cannot lawfully vote. More people mean more problems---overcrowded schools and hospitals, additional homelessness, tighter housing markets and looser job markets, not a winning strategy for any high office candidate.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org