Immigration: Costco offers a lesson in fair play

Re: “Should Tacoma join the nation’s sanctuary cities?” (TNT, Matt Driscoll column, 12/20).

While shopping at Costco, it occurred to me how that shopping experience compares to the idea of sanctuary cities. To shop at Costco, you must first pay your membership dues and get your photo taken. Then you are issued a membership card with your photo and ID number.

When you go to the Costco store, you must show your photo ID in order to gain access. This is to ensure that only “legally documented” members shop there.

Now imagine you are standing in line waiting to make your purchases. Off to the left you see an express checkout line that is labeled “undocumented shoppers only” and people without the proper ID are sailing through quickly.

How could they be going to the head of the line, getting all the same benefits without having paid their membership fee? This doesn’t seem equitable!

This is what happens in a sanctuary city. People who have come into the country illegally and have not gone through the legal processes are getting many of the privileges that legal immigrants get.

We have immigration laws for a reason. Sanctuary cities flout those laws and thumb their nose at the federal government.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Immigration: Costco offers a lesson in fair play."