By Matt Rooney
The Left has spent years insisting it’s offensive—even cruel—to ask certain people for documentation, Save Jerseyans.
Unless, apparently, you’re trying to drive into Hoboken to watch the Fourth of July fireworks.
Mayor Emily Jabbour’s administration has announced that motorists entering Hoboken on Independence Day will have to prove they belong there. Police officers will be stationed at every gateway into the city, turning away unauthorized vehicles. Residents will need proof of residency. Others will need proof of prepaid parking, proof they’re going to work, or proof they own a business in town.
No proof? No entry.
To be clear, Hoboken has every reason to prepare for the massive crowds expected during America’s 250th birthday celebration. Nobody wants six-hour traffic jams or emergency vehicles trapped behind gridlock. Restricting access during a major event could – circumstantially – even be perfectly reasonable.
What’s unreasonable is the breathtaking hypocrisy.
This is the same political establishment that proudly embraces Hoboken’s sanctuary city policies. The same crowd recoils whenever anyone suggests governments should verify whether someone is lawfully present in the United States before receiving taxpayer-funded benefits or being shielded from federal immigration enforcement.
Suddenly, though, documentation is no longer offensive.
Now it’s just good public policy.
Apparently, asking someone to prove they live in Hoboken is perfectly acceptable. Asking someone to prove they have the legal right to live in America? That’s supposedly beyond the pale!
It’s amusing, at least to a point, how the Left’s principles change depending on whether there’s a political narrative at stake.
In this case, Leftists love to claim that requests for documentation create fear, discourage participation, and unfairly target vulnerable people. Yet Hoboken won’t hesitate to post police officers at city entrances and tell motorists to produce paperwork before crossing the city line.
Where are the lectures about “papers, please”?
Where are the accusations that requiring documentation is exclusionary?
They’re nowhere to be found because this has never been about documentation. It has always been about which laws progressive politicians consider worth enforcing.
Traffic laws? Absolutely.
Parking regulations? Of course.
Residency requirements? You’d better believe it.
Federal immigration law? Not so much.
That’s the defining feature of sanctuary politics. The issue isn’t whether the government should verify anything. Governments verify identities every single day—for voting, public schools, taxes, driver’s licenses, and countless other purposes.
The issue is selective enforcement.
When enforcing the law aligns with progressive priorities, documentation becomes common sense. When enforcing federal immigration law doesn’t, suddenly asking for proof becomes an assault on civil liberties.
Hoboken’s Fourth of July traffic plan inadvertently exposes the entire game.
The city is perfectly comfortable demanding proof of residency before you can watch fireworks celebrating American independence.
It just isn’t nearly as interested in whether someone can prove they’re legally in the United States to celebrate it.
