America is a big country. So a political issue has to be pretty salient to be top of mind on both coasts. Such has been the case with immigration. Earlier this month, residents of Los Angeles turned to rioting to resist the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants. In New York, Democratic candidates for mayor have fallen over themselves to profess their own spirit of resistance. One of them, City Comptroller Brad Lander, even got himself arrested.
But it’s not just Los Angeles and New York. Across the fruited plain, the presence of a vast population (estimates vary, but even around 10 million would be larger than all but ten states) has been a consistent preoccupation of our politics. Donald Trump’s rise and sustained political success would not have been possible without the resultant popular frustration. It shouldn’t be hard to understand why. There are very real negative consequences of having such a population within our borders.
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