It has been just seven months since Republican governors at the border put New York City’s commitment to being a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants to the test. Already, the Big Apple has now conceded defeat.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, announced that the city will be relocating illegal immigrants across the country after months of complaints that the city’s resources were being strained. The policy briefing that details Adams’s plan claims that “as of March 2023, there were 79,937 people in shelter placement in New York City. … This is due in large part to the influx of newcomers. Our shelter system is full, and we are running out of funds, staff, and space.”

URBAN DECAY: THE BIG (ROTTEN) APPLE

Therefore, New York City will now start busing illegal immigrants to other areas of the country. It’s a far cry from Adams’s sanctimonious campaign statements. According to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other left-wing activists, it may even be “trafficking.”

It took just around seven months and tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to break New York City’s convictions about being a sanctuary city. Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border every month and being settled in much smaller border towns in Texas and Arizona and it is clear that calling yourself a sanctuary city is a luxury you can only afford when you know you don’t need to shoulder the burden of a border crisis.

Adams is waving the white flag on New York City’s commitment to being a sanctuary city. He may object to that framing, but he has admitted that the city cannot, and now will not, take care of illegal immigrants if even just a few thousand of them show up. It is a “first-come, first-served” sanctuary that thinks fewer than 3,000 new arrivals is an “unprecedented surge.” Republicans should not let him, or any Democratic mayor, forget it.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER