Liberal Talk Radio

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg almost makes the urban gentrification pro-immigration argument* but doesn’t quite articulate it:

Mayor Bloomberg is taking on presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and others who’ve said the federal government should slash funding for cities that don’t strictly enforce immigration laws.

“Boy, let them come,” Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday when asked about Mr. Romney’s recent remarks denouncing New York as a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants.

While Mr. Bloomberg declined to criticize Mr. Romney or anyone else by name, he said: “I can’t think of any laboratory that shows better why you need a stream of immigrants than New York City.”

The mayor pointed to New York’s low crime rate and its thriving economy as evidence the city is doing something right.

“If that isn’t example enough as to why you need immigrants coming in, I don’t know what to tell anybody,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “If they don’t believe that immigrants add a heck of a lot more than they cost they just aren’t looking at the numbers.”

*And I’m surprised that no immigration advocates explore this aspect — it’s a concrete example of the positive — actually, indispensible — benefits of immigration.