Close your eyes for a minute and imagine the mayor of a major American city who is so happy about a political victory that he spontaneously busts out into an Irish jig. That’s exactly what happened when Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney broke into a happy dance with his chief of staff after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration could not withhold key federal funds from the city, allowing it retain its coveted sanctuary city status.
Surprisingly, the mayor seems completely unaware of the high cost of illegal immigration foisted upon his state and its taxpayers by the presence of large numbers of illegal aliens. Here’s a few numbers to keep in mind:
- $1.3 billion: The annual cost of illegal immigration to Pennsylvania’s taxpayers;
- $5,003: The annual cost per illegal alien to the state of Pennsylvania;
- $273: The annual cost of illegal immigration to each U.S. citizen household in Pennsylvania;
- 203,000: The estimated number of illegal aliens living in Pennsylvania.
- 30 percent: The percent of the federal prison population comprised of immigrants – most of whom are here illegally.
And then there are the victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens protected by sanctuary policies – victims whose graves Mayor Kenney figurative danced on as he celebrated a court decision that will allow him to release more criminal aliens to prey on innocent members of the community. Criminals like Milton Mateo Garcia, a previously deported illegal alien who was living in Philadelphia when he brutally raped a young woman in 2016. Or Darlin Navarro-Turcos, another previously deported Philadelphia resident who stabbed a man to death in 2014.
Sanctuary jurisdictions, known to serve as a beacon to illegal immigration while protecting dangerous criminal aliens, have grown exponentially in the last two decades. In 2000, there were only 11 sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide. Under President Obama, that number mushroomed to 300, and has now nearly doubled to 564 under President Trump.