Remember all of those fiery speeches that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave about “resisting Trump” and refusing to cooperate with immigration officials when it comes to illegal immigrants? There was plenty of talk, but it always remained unclear just how much action he could legally take (or, more accurately, fail to take in this case) in the day to day operation of the city’s law enforcement agencies. Now part of that question has been answered. Earlier this month a report surfaced in the New York Daily News which reveals that the NYPD is indeed passing information about illegals with upcoming court cases to ICE.

The NYPD alerts federal immigration agents to the Criminal Court appearances of immigrants facing deportation, the Daily News has learned. As a “sanctuary city,” the city currently only complies with Immigration and Customs Enforcement “detainer” orders to hold a defendant until federal agents can take custody in cases involving violent or serious felonies. But in the process of verifying warrants against a defendant, officials said the NYPD will contact relevant law enforcement, including ICE, thereby alerting the agency to an immigrant’s upcoming appearance in a city courtroom. Advocates slammed the practice, saying it amounts to “collusion” with immigration officials that goes against the spirit of Mayor de Blasio’s pledge that the city will remain a sanctuary city.

This probably sounds like a huge deal to open borders advocates, but it’s really just business as usual. The NYPD is still failing to honor detainers from ICE except in cases of illegal immigrants charged with “violent or serious felonies.” Who gets to decide which crimes qualify under those terms? Your guess is as good as mine, but the complaints coming from the Left in this article cite two criminals who apparently didn’t qualify. One of them was an individual who had already been deported but snuck back into the country and was subsequently charged with, “rubbing against a woman on the No. 7 train.” A second man already had a standing deportation order against him and had been arrested on burglary charges.

In both of these cases the police once again failed to honor a detainer order. But what the police did manage to do was notify ICE that they had an upcoming court appearance. When they showed up, one found immigration agents waiting for him while agents opted not to detain the other. This has some of the usual suspects up in arms.

“I think it really is outrageous,” said Lori Zeno, co-founder and deputy director of Queens Law Associates. “We’re supposed to be a sanctuary city. What does it mean if our own court system is participating in turning folks in to ICE?”

What does it mean? It means that law enforcement officials are engaged in enforcing the law. I realize some of you find this a shocking concept, but do try to keep up.

Earlier this year we discussed the “outrage” being expressed on the Left about ICE showing up at courthouses to make arrests. This generally only takes place when the agents can’t find any other suitable location to take the illegal immigrants into custody, but it does happen sometimes. And those cases are obviously going to be more common in so-called “sanctuary cities” like New York. If you have City Hall fighting against you and the illegal alien has no valid address or employment location, a court hearing may well be the only chance you’re going to have to nab them. What else do you expect ICE to do?

Once you get away from the politicians and the blaring newspaper headlines, these notifications are actually just part of the routine work being done by law enforcement officers on a daily basis. And if we find cities, counties or states where the cops can’t even manage that much basic civility between departments then it’s truly time to get off the pot and start cutting all of their federal DoJ funding. We can find much better uses for the money elsewhere.