SAN DIEGO — Anyone who has written about immigration for more than 35 years, and who has the scars to prove it, has earned the right to say: "I told you so."

Those four words rang in my head recently as I read an article in The New York Times that exposed one of the three big lies of the immigration debate.

If you're curious, the other two falsehoods are that racism isn't driving the public's anxiety over immigrants and that Americans have no problem with legal immigrants. Neither of those things is true.

The third lie, and the one that drives the Times story, is that there is any such thing as "sanctuary" from immigration enforcement. That's never been true, no matter which party controls the executive branch.

It just seems true because both Democrats and Republicans have literally spent years advancing the lie for different reasons.

Democrats want to fool Latino voters into thinking they're in their corner when, in reality, the last three Democratic presidents — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — have all hammered immigrants, both documented and undocumented.

Republicans want white voters who worry about the browning of America to believe that Democrats can't be trusted on immigration because they've supposedly created lawless cities where the undocumented can hide from the long arm of the law.

That's silly. In 2026, everyone knows that the best way to hide from the law is to get a pardon by purchasing cryptocurrency from the Trump family. Republicans gave up any moral claim to being the "law and order party" when they showed they were willing to ignore the criminal syndicate operating out of the White House.

Alas, I digress. Back to the sanctuary myth. The concept of a "sanctuary city" — or, in the case of California, a supersized "sanctuary state" — is not real. It's never been real. Beyond what might be described as "professional courtesy," local and state law enforcement officers are normally under no legal obligation to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents do their jobs.

Just as ICE agents can't be roped into writing speeding tickets or answering domestic violence calls. If the last 18 months of the Trump circus have taught us anything, it's that law enforcement works best when everyone stays in their lane.

The Times article — titled "Trump Blasts 'Sanctuary' States But Many Still Aid Deportations" — notes that the Trump administration has "increasingly sought to punish Democratic-led states that have tried to curtail their cooperation with federal immigration agencies." In fact, President Trump has said the idea of offering "sanctuary" to the undocumented amounts to a "lawless insurrection" that must be suppressed.

And you thought Republicans didn't like the "I-word", because they objected to the Jan. 6 rioters being labeled "insurrectionists." Politics is where consistency goes to die.

But, as the Times article points out, the very states that the Trump administration is targeting — which include California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York — "already cooperate closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on tens of thousands of criminal cases a year, regularly turning over people charged with or convicted of serious and violent offenses for detention and deportation." A Times review of the policies in the 18 states targeted by the administration found "extensive cooperation and coordination with federal immigration agencies when it comes to people convicted of serious crimes."

You don't say?

For nearly two decades, I have argued that the whole idea of "sanctuary" is a myth, a lie and a deception advanced by both parties to serve their own interests.

In a column for the Daily Beast in 2015, I asserted: "In the immigration debate, sanctuary cities are unicorns, mermaids and Bigfoot all wrapped into one."

Seven years earlier, in a column in 2008, I referred to "the myth that there are all these 'sanctuary cities' in the United States where illegal immigrants can sip margaritas without fear of being deported no matter what crimes they commit." I went to say: "In most cities in America, if an illegal immigrant is arrested and charged with a crime, that individual is almost certain to have an immigration 'hold' ordered while federal officials are notified. Often, the person will be deported."

Part of this job is showing people how politicians in both parties are tricking them, so they won't be conned anymore. I can't make people listen, but that doesn't mean they aren't being tricked. All I can do is lift the curtain.

For nearly two decades, that's what I have tried to do by exposing the lie about "sanctuary." You're welcome.

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Sean Lee at Unsplash