As the saying goes, you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. The mayors of four sanctuary cities — Boston, Denver, New York and Chicago — who will be appearing before the House Government and Oversight Committee on Wednesday should heed this timeless advice.
Committee Chairman James Comer will use the hearing to humiliate blue-city mayors and to please the White House and fire up his extremist MAGA base. I urge the mayors to consider making an opening statement along the following lines:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee.
We are here in Washington at a precipitous time in our history. Republicans control Congress, the White House and, arguably, the Supreme Court. As we speak, an unelected billionaire is wreaking havoc on government agencies we all rely on for everything from weather forecasts and disaster relief to medical research, educational opportunity and global stability.
Republicans in Congress are doing nothing to stop this anti-American assault. They are acquiescing to the theft of Americans’ confidential data, looting of the public treasury, illegal mistreatment of public servants, and denial of basic rights to people who live and work here, pay taxes, raise kids and want nothing more than the American Dream.
Local government is where the rubber meets the road. When things go wrong in Washington or in far-flung places all around the world, the problems invariably end up on urban doorsteps.
When people show up cold, hungry and homeless, we clothe them and feed them and give them a roof overhead. When their children need a place to learn, we open the doors of our schools. When they are sick and need treatment, our hospitals take them in. When they are spiritually broken, our faith leaders give them hope. When they are desperate for work, we provide jobs and opportunity. And when they break the law, we hold them accountable.
We didn’t create this immigration system — you did. We don’t oversee it — you do. Your inability to establish a rational, functional and legal system of immigration is an abject failure on your part. But, of course, we have to clean it up. Our conscience dictates it.
You could have encouraged passage of immigration reform but — for political reasons — you chose not to. Instead, you embraced lies upon lies upon lies. You fed people misinformation in order to distract them from the real crime underway today: the hijacking of America by greedy billionaires and the consolidation of wealth at the expense of millions and millions of working families.
The last three times Democrats moved into the White House, they inherited a nation in crisis. The last three times Republicans moved into the White House — including just a few weeks ago — they inherited strong and growing economies. I have no doubt that the next Democratic president will inherit a colossal mess created by the current occupant of the White House and compliant Republicans in charge of Congress.
Nevertheless, I am here today in the hope that you and your Republican colleagues will somehow suspend your extreme and partisan right-wing agenda for just a few minutes so we can talk about the real needs of real people and the shared values that should shape national debate. I am talking about things like human rights, justice, freedom and truth.
Absent these core values, we can’t possibly navigate the treacherous path to a solution to big challenges such as immigration and the economic instability that drives it. I welcome any and all constructive, practical, legal and moral ideas for addressing immigration as well as other issues facing us today.
If on the other hand, you have called this hearing for the sole purpose of blaming someone else for your own failures, stoking anger toward people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds and feeding the president’s hate machine, your efforts will be wasted.
We answer to a higher authority than this committee. We answer to the people we serve, to the U.S. Constitution and to our conscience as Americans. So, with that in mind, we welcome the dialogue — and thank you for the opportunity to speak.
Peter Cunningham is a communications consultant in Chicago. He served in President Barack Obama’s administration.
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