What's the point of sanctuary cities?

[JSt0rm]

Have you followed any of the posts or were you too busy formulating that awesome zinger?

The zingers flow. But the point stands.

 

[interchange]

The Money argument here reminds me of Housing First initiatives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First

I don't think people realize the costs associated with trying to put barriers to people getting services. Hospital care, police work, incarceration -- all of these things are massive amounts of taxpayer dollars we are burning through on the regular because of a perception that people who use social programs are taking advantage of them. The truth is that sometimes that happens, but it is costing us more money to try to prevent it, and in doing so we are making it harder for people who might actually benefit from social programs to get plugged in.

 

[JSt0rm]

The Money argument here reminds me of Housing First initiatives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First

I don't think people realize the costs associated with trying to put barriers to people getting services. Hospital care, police work, incarceration -- all of these things are massive amounts of taxpayer dollars we are burning through on the regular because of a perception that people who use social programs are taking advantage of them. The truth is that sometimes that happens, but it is costing us more money to try to prevent it, and in doing so we are making it harder for people who might actually benefit from social programs to get plugged in.

what but I heard a little bit of money spent on policing would be cheaper. Someone said that in this very thread. Are you saying they were mistaken? Im shocked.

 

[interchange]

what but I heard a little bit of money spent on policing would be cheaper. Someone said that in this very thread. Are you saying they were mistaken? Im shocked.

No need to be mean.

The argument makes intuitive sense and finding real data on the issue isn't precisely easy. Wouldn't be the first person to argue with their perceptions.

Unfortunately, though, our votes are worth more than our tax dollars so policy isn't driven to make economic sense.

For illustration: I got riled up once when my credit card company seemed disinterested in pursuing people who fraudulently got their hands on my account (they used it to pay a cell phone bill -- should be a damn easy crime to solve). But it's good economic policy for them. They just refund fraudulent charges and change your number. The solution to credit card fraud isn't zealous prosecution. It's structural change. And -- lo and behold -- we now have chip cards.