The mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver, and New York were grilled at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday over their “sanctuary” policies that encourage illegal immigrants to live in their cities, obtain certain government benefits, and remain in the U.S. illegally.
Ideally, a hearing would see members of Congress asking questions of witnesses who can shed light on a topic for oversight purposes or to better inform them in drafting laws. Everyone would leave a little wiser. Maybe once in a while, someone would change his mind on an issue. Sadly, that scenario is as accurate as the “Schoolhouse Rock” videos I watched in the 1970s between Saturday morning cartoons.
This hearing clocked in at well over six hours, so I shall try to extract the biggest themes and lessons.
First, one has to tune out the noise, which takes several forms, like these:
