When my family and I were driving back from Chicago, a vote of the city council was revealed that perfectly captured the hypocrisy and politics surrounding undocumented migrants in major cities. The council voted down an effort to allow voters to decide on whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city. The measure was defeated 16-31. …

It appears that consulting the voters was not a good option for these politicians. Democracy is only useful for certain tasks, particularly when the outcome is likely to be a rejection of long-held policies. Polls indicate that the majority of Chicagoans oppose the sanctuary city policies. Nationally, some polls show 80 percent of voters oppose sanctuary city policies.

In one controversy on an earlier vote, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s floor leader, Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) was accused of physically blocking West Side Alderman Emma Mitts (37th) from entering Council chambers in an effort to prevent a quorum of alderpeople needed to vote on the resolution. He was also accused of threatening members who supported the effort to let the voter decide. He later resigned as floor leader.

[So much for ‘protecting democracy,’ eh? This seems like a foolish attempt by progressives to block a resolution on a now-unpopular policy. A referendum on this would be an escape hatch for Brendan Johnson, a handy excuse to retreat from bad policies set by his predecessors. Instead, he and his allies are doubling down on them, even as the entire city now has to live with its consequences. — Ed]