Scenes from Delaney Hall (6)
Here’s a first: I was at Delaney Hall last night for The Peoples’ Vigil, a quasi-religious event held each Monday at 7:30 pm. During the vigil, Shane Claiborne, a self-described Anabaptist and founder of the New Monastic Movement, made admiring reference to the Cato Institute, of all things. “Even the Cato Institute,” he said, “is against this building…” He was alluding to the research of David J. Bier, Cato’s Director of Immigration Studies and Selz Foundation Chair in Immigration Policy, and in particular, to Bier’s paper, “Immigrants Cut Victimization Rates, Boost Crime Reporting” (Policy Analysis 1003, August 2025), which argues that contrary to popular belief, comparatively few immigrants are violent criminals. You’re more likely to be killed by a falling vending machine or hit by lightning than killed by an “illegal immigrant.”

The voices of brutality in the conversation of mankind: ICE accuse us for the nth time of defiant trespass, June 15, 2026

I mentioned Claiborne’s reference to Bier, who seemed pleased to hear about it. I also suggested in passing that Cato would do well to send an occasional delegation of some sort to Delaney Hall. It would, at the very least, be good PR for the organization, but also a potentially valuable learning experience. There’s more to politics than policy wonkery, and Cato’s buttoned-up policy wonks might want to take a look at some of it. Coming the other way around, I think ground-level activists might benefit from the input of well-disposed policy analysts.

My own vote would be to send a delegation either on a forthcoming Monday during the Peoples’ Vigil, or on Independence Day (or both). I can’t think of a better way of commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution than to be at a site that deserves a replay. And I would get a kick out of seeing the Cato types in their Adam Smith ties mingling with the grittier folks from CodePink, Cosecha, Resistencia, and Antifa, or with any of the devout folk from the religious organizations that regularly show up.

Other contrasts could prove equally instructive (or amusing). Activists unapologetically quote from the Bible or pray at Delaney Hall (no Rawlsian scruples, apparently); the people from Cato could in turn pass out their trademark (though not “trademarked”) copies of the Declaration and Constitution. And, brutality permitting, a good time would be had by all. I’ve offered to serve as a go-between for the venture. I think it’d be wholesome fun, an instructive convergence of two worlds (Cato and the activists) in collision with a third (ICE). Let’s see what comes of it.