Chronicle poll results: Should Pittsburgh be a ‘sanctuary city’?

Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an online poll the following question: “Should Pittsburgh be a ‘sanctuary city’?” Of the 332 people who responded, 48% said yes; 45% said no; and 7% said they weren’t sure. Comments were submitted by 79 people. A few follow.

Our shared values of chesed, tzedek and tikkun olam require us as a community to take care of each other. We once needed sanctuary and many died because it was not offered.

I have so much ambivalence about this question. I have deep compassion for folks who are fleeing persecution in their home countries. We have been those people in our history. But Pittsburgh is having a difficult time with its very own homeless and foodless population. Walk the streets of downtown and even Forbes and Murray in Squirrel Hill and the problem is before our eyes. That feels like the city’s financial priority.

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We should follow the law. Period.

There is no more Jewish value than welcoming the refugee.

It is important for the federal government to be able to enforce its borders and immigration law.

There is no evidence that ICE is only targeting true criminals, but is instead grabbing the hard-working friends and neighbors who have established themselves and their families in our community and are following immigration law, working through the process in order to become legal residents.

People who have flaunted the law should have no sanctuary anywhere. They need to leave our country.

Absolutely! The federal Department of Justice may have declared Pittsburgh no longer a sanctuary city last month, but that has no effect on how we run our city. We have many immigrants here, and we hold them close and safe. Pittsburgh has been a sanctuary city for a long time, and as everyone here knows, we don’t take change easily.

I don’t want to give sanctuary to any antisemites or anti-Zionists, or terrorists of any kind, so I want all immigrants to be vetted properly before offering them any legal protections to stay in this country.

Every city should be a sanctuary city. This administration has been going after immigrants without regard for economic benefit, or participation in the legal system. They are not making us safer, or better off. They must be stopped.

Absolutely not. We have seen what has happened in other “sanctuary cities” and it doesn’t have to happen here.

Pittsburgh is an immigrant city. People from all over came here worked hard and they, and their children and the city thrived. We should keep this heritage alive.

Are immigration system reforms necessary? Of course. But that doesn’t change the basic question of if the rule of law should be followed. Immigrants coming to our city legally — yes; illegally — no.

We were all strangers in a strange land. PJC