New York 1921 Not Quite A Sanctuary City

In 1921 Police Were Not Concentrating On Rounding-Up Illegal Aliens

Instead They Were Arresting The Unemployed, Especially Those From Other Cities

Page 2 article New York Herald January 16, 1921

In 1921 instead of illegals, the New York City Police Department were gathering up men from other cities who were jobless.

This article is from the January 16, 1921 New York Herald:

POLICE ROUNDING UP NON-RESIDENT IDLE

Jobless Who Do Not Live Here Arrested as Vagrants.

Squads of detectives and uniformed policemen, under orders to arrest unemployed men who could not prove themselves residents of New York City, went through the lower East Side last night and early to-day inspecting saloons and lunch rooms. At one saloon at 199 Worth street twenty-nine men, who had nothing to do but warm themselves  beside a stove, were made prisoners and locked In the Elizabeth street station on charges of vagrancy.

Some of the men attempted to escape when the detectives entered the place. They were pursued and caught. All, according to the raiders, who were of Inspector James Bolan’s staff, came here from other cities. Inspector Bolan said that the order affecting non-workers came from his office, and that it was based on a recent communication from Magistrate Max S. Levine, who believes arrests of this kind will prevent crime.

Early last night detectives of Inspector Cornelius F. Cohalan’’s staff in Harlem made a raid on a poolroom in Lawrence street and arrested fifty men, who, they said, were playing craps. The prisoners were taken to the East 126th street station.

A raid on the fourth floor of a building near Madison Street and the Bowery netted fifty-seven prisoners, each of whom was charged with gambling. All but one were also charged by Magistrate Douras in Night Court. He was held in $500 bail on charges of maintaining a
gambling house. He described himself as Thomas O’Brien, salesman, of 300 West Thirty-eighth street.

New York City is now known as a sanctuary city with legislators inviting those who have crossed the border illegally to come here. Once here, local law enforcement are under orders to not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

103 years ago it was certainly not like this in New York City. There was no issue at the southern border or any border for that matter. There was little illegal immigration.

So city officials were not looking for illegal aliens. They were just hassling and incarcerating “vagrants” from other cities.

Yet in the same 1921 issue of the New York Herald a writer describes that there were “hordes of aliens,” over 25 million people, clamoring to emigrate to the United States.

The difference between now and then? Those wanting to come to the U.S.A. arrived by ship primarily from Europe and most importantly, legally.

With the current city and state budgets stretched beyond capacity, is paying for those who break the law by entering the United States illegally a sound policy? Or is it as inane as arresting the unemployed in 1921?

The current policy of harboring those who break the immigration laws smacks in the face of logic.

To be feeding, sheltering, clothing, and educating illegals, all at enormous taxpayer expense, makes no sense, especially to poor New Yorkers who depend upon public services which are already stretched beyond their capacities. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says, “‘We’ve done a great job, but we can’t continue to sustain this.”

Adams now realizes what any thinking person knows if the continuing onslaught of illegals continues, saying, “It’s going to impact low-income New Yorkers”.

Really? What a shock Mayor Adams. Not just low-income, but all New Yorkers.

Sanctuary cities like New York shall reap what they have sowed.

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