With Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in the forefront, Baltimore has launched a policy of attracting foreign-born residents to the city in an attempt to reverse the city’s population decline. But it is not just legal residents that the city wants.
Part of the campaign has been the adoption of sanctuary policies for illegal aliens according to a Washington Post front page story on July 25. According to the Post, one of the steps in the campaign by Rawlings-Blake was the signing of an order in March, “…prohibiting police and social agencies from asking anyone about immigration status — and in the order, she explicitly asked federal immigration authorities to tell anyone they arrest that they are not agents of the city.” The story concludes with a quote from an admitted illegal alien resident of the city, “People feel free. We don’t have to live in hiding and in fear.”
Aside from encouraging illegal aliens to the city, the policies adopted in Baltimore are likely to attract other aliens to illegally enter the United States. And the city’s policy completely misses the point that it is the availability of jobs and a healthy economy that encourages residents to stay put and attracts newcomers. Illegal aliens, on the other hand, are hired mostly for low-wage jobs and drive down wages less-educated American workers thereby motivating them to leave in search of better employment opportunities.