Why the GOP Trap for Big-City Mayors Didn’t Work

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In December 2023, a trio of representatives from America’s august liberal institutions came to Washington to explain how they were handling a fraught political moment unfolding on their campuses. It did not go well. Within a month, two of the three university presidents had resigned. “TWO DOWN,” crowed then-Rep Elise Stefanik, who had manufactured one of the hearing’s viral moments.

Surely Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the head of the powerful House Oversight Committee, was hoping to come away with a scalp of his own from Wednesday’s “Hearing With Sanctuary City Mayors.” Once again, a handful of liberal standard-bearers—this time, the mayors of Boston, Denver, Chicago, and New York—were being marched into Washington for an inquisition before furious House Republicans. To understand how hyped GOP reps were about this opportunity to trap a Democratic mayor in scandal, and get famous doing it, please take a peek at the Hollywood-caliber trailer:

Six hours of charade later, it’s safe to say that nobody is losing their job over this one. GOP representatives failed to land any viral moments, let down partly by their own speechifying and perhaps more fundamentally by the obvious flaws in their quest.

Briefly, Republicans are convinced that the mayors are breaking the law by not pulling out all the stops to accommodate ICE agents. But courts disagree, and the mayors were well briefed and careful in their responses. The overarching impression was one of well-meaning public servants being yelled at by angry people who were obviously overstating their case.

Rep. Nancy Mace said: “All of the mayors are actively working to harm the American people we represent. You all have blood on your hands.” Rep. John McGuire said: “You guys on the left believe that criminals are good and police are bad.” Or consider the exchange between Rep. Scott Perry and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson:

Florida’s Anna Paulina Luna implied that the mayors would soon be prosecuted by the Department of Justice—a frequent threat of Trump border czar Tom Homan.

The Democrats in the room, meanwhile, repeatedly pointed out that the premise of the hearing made no sense. Immigrants, including those in the country illegally, commit crimes at a lower rate than their native-born neighbors. Boston is the safest big city in the country; New York is not far behind. If Republicans really wanted to understand how to achieve urban public safety, they would be treating New York’s Eric Adams and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu as expert witnesses—not defendants.

As the Dallas Democrat Jasmine Crockett summed it up: “The Republicans put more effort into producing their little propaganda trailer for this hearing than in reforming America’s immigration system.” Or, more succinctly, from New Mexico’s Rep. Melanie Stansbury: “This is bullshit.”

For the Dems on the committee and on the witness stand, it was a chance to try to recapture some of the pro-immigrant patriotism that they wore so well during the first Trump administration but refused to trot out during the presidential election.

Wu, sporting a cross of ash on her forehead, with her 2-month-old baby waiting in the wings, boasted about Boston’s immigrant heritage. “One in seven signers of the Declaration of Independence were immigrants. On the last four Red Sox rosters to win a World Series, 1 in 5 were immigrants. Of all the Boston University faculty to have earned the Nobel Prize, all but one were immigrants. Today, 1 in 4 Boston residents were born outside of the United States.”

Recounting his response to the buses of migrants sent to the Colorado capital by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Denver Mayor Michael Johnston quoted the Gospel of Matthew: “As mayor I have to protect the health and safety of everyone in our city. As a man of faith I have a moral obligation to care for those in need. As Scripture says, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.’ So that’s what we did.”

Not that it was all 2017 again. Clearly, Democrats are no longer comfortable with the vague but well-known term sanctuary city; once claimed with pride, the label was strenuously avoided on Wednesday. The enormous influx of asylum-seekers and other migrants during the Biden administration has also created a significantly different dynamic from that of the first Trump term. Asked repeatedly about Biden’s border security record, Wu would only say: “I think Washington failed on immigration.”

But all in all, the hearing was a good test of whether Democrats can replace the poll-driven, border–security rhetoric that Kamala Harris tried out during the campaign by changing the subject to something more positive. On Wednesday, it worked.