'Sanctuary Campuses' Invite a Federal Standoff

Grandstanding universities play with fire and thus will get burned

In the wake of Donald Trump's election, many colleges and universities vowed to become sanctuary campuses for students in the country illegally. The matter will take on a special urgency in the event that soon-to-be President Trump repeals the executive-ordered Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which deferred the enforcement of immigration laws for those who came here as children. The practical consequences of a sanctuary campus policy remain murky (as is often the case when college administrators take direction from student protesters). Will openly harboring illegal aliens jeopardize colleges' federal funding, for instance? In an age of funding-backed executive overreach puppeteering campus policy, it would be dangerous to assume otherwise.