ROONEY RANTS: Rutgers should think long, hard before going the ‘Sanctuary Campus’ route

While you were Christmasing at the end of last week, Save Jerseyans, our friends at Rutgers University were striking another blow for progressivism.

It came in the form of University President Robert Barchi responding to reports/speculation/fears/hysteria related to President-elect Donald Trump’s expected changes to U.S. immigration enforcement.

Like other universities across the country, plenty of his students and colleagues want to see New Jersey’s largest campus turned into a sanctuary campus. A place where immigrants are immune to federal enforcement of federal immigration laws through the protection of the university system. It’s accomplished by liberal administrators ignoring the federal government’s directives to, for example, share information when required by law with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

For now, Barchi’s e-mail to the campus community bragged about his university doing the bare minimum to comply.

“Rutgers University police do not inquire into nor record the immigration status of students or other persons unless a serious crime has been committed,” he explained. “Rutgers University does not use E-verify for any purposes other than to comply with longstanding federal law regarding employment eligibility. Immigration status is not a factor in student housing decisions.”

That’s real…. safe? And self-interested, too.

Another thing: apparently, there are precious few campus liberals of any age who appreciate the hypocrisy under-girding their position.

These same people preemptively flouting the rules and declaring their intent to disobey federal law are regularly advocating in every other context for a strong, robust federal government, a familiar point of contrast with conservatives and libertarians who argue for a revitalized 10th Amendment dynamic which prioritizes states’ rights.

Of course, one of the few areas where the federal government (specifically, Congress) actually DOES have unquestionable plenary power is in the realm of immigration.

Almost every beloved liberal federal powers are constructs of pure imagination.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 is black-and-white.

States don’t get to set their own immigration policies. Colleges sure as hell don’t either.

Does this mean illegal immigrants don’t have any rights while they’re on our soil? No. But that’s a very different question from whether a university, or any other institution, has basis to decide which laws they’d like to follow (and which are too ‘mean’ to be honored on campus).

Rutgers should think long and hard about how it’s going to react to Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell should the trio move to give our existing immigration laws teeth through their entirely valid, constitutionally-granted powers. They’re standing on dangerously shaky ground.

My advice? Rutgers’ educators should spend a lot less time picking and choosing which areas of the Constitution they like and start doing a better job teaching it.

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Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.