Make California Post a Preferred Source Holy unexpected landing, Batman.
Who would’ve thought illegal-immigrant smugglers would turn up on the sand in tony Newport Beach?
It makes one wonder: How long might this sort of thing have been happening?
And: What will it take for California to withdraw the sanctuary welcome mat?
As the California Post reported, alleged smugglers recently brought a boatful of illegal immigrants to the busy Newport Harbor, dinging a yacht in the process. Once ashore, the newcomers were tucked into waiting cars and whisked away, to destinations unknown.
Coordinated criminal networks are enough to rattle any community.
But the caper in broad daylight was a particular jolt in Newport Beach, a low-crime, high-income beach community of about 82,000.
Surveillance footage captured the moment a small boat arrives carrying a large group of migrants as they run along a dock ramp in Newport Beach harbor. The dramatic landing goes to show how tightly shut the nation’s southern border is, federal authorities noted; the coyotes have turned to sea.
LA’s top prosecutor, Bill Essayli, said the US Coast Guard and US Customers and Border Protection have stepped up efforts to keep smugglers from reaching California’s coast, and that the feds nab most such boats on the water. Good.
The federal government also has decades of experience working with states to deter amphibious incursions in places like Texas and Florida.
Not so California, thanks to Democrats’ open-borders lunacy. Sacramento has not only rolled out the welcome mat for illegal immigration; it’s served quite the buffet.
A person rows a boat in Newport Beach. William Liang for CA Post A recent report by City Journal, also published in the California Post, revealed that some illegal-immigrant families can access more than $100,000 a year in public services, courtesy of California taxpayers.
Meanwhile, California’s sanctuary laws protect illegal-immigrant criminals from deportation.
Even cities that don’t declare themselves sanctuaries — Newport Beach included — are shackled by state law, their law enforcers all but forbidden from assisting ICE.
In one recent example, an illegal immigrant allegedly stabbed and killed a 68-year-old man in his Martinez, Calif., front yard — just one day after the suspect had been freed from jail in a sanctuary jurisdiction.
The boat incursion at Newport Beach is another reminder: Not only do sanctuary invitations have consequences, but the danger can turn up on anyone’s doorstep.
It’s well past time for Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators to put public safety ahead of far-left ideology.
One must ask, in fact, why they so steadfastly prioritize foreigners over Californians.
Batman’s not coming to save the California coastline from criminal smugglers.
California should help the feds get the job done instead.
