Trump didn't get my vote.  Nor did Hillary for that matter.  But I agree with Trump on his taunting of elites in sanctuary cities and elsewhere with his threat to bus to their ritzy neighborhoods thousands of Latin Americans who have crossed the border illegally—not that I agree with much else about Trump's immigration policies or think that the busing would be legal.

My reasons for agreeing in concept have to do with living in Southern Arizona near the border, or more specifically, in Tucson, where I've co-founded a nonpartisan group to try to address the city's high poverty rate. 

At least Tucson's poverty rate of 24.1% is not as high as the 31.9% in Douglas, Arizona, or the 29.4% Nogales, Arizona.  But Tucson's rate is twice the national average and a whopping four times the rate in locales where many big, rich companies are headquartered, such as in Silicon Valley; Redmond, Washington; and Arlington County, Virginia, the location of Amazon's second headquarters.

By the measure of poverty, Tucson has done more than its fair share of taking in the poor and dealing with the corresponding social and economic costs.  It's time for other locales to put their money where their platitudes are and do their share.  

After all, most of the executives at the top of America's big companies, especially hip tech companies, spout platitudes about diversity, inclusiveness, immigration, and giving back to the community.  At the same time, however, they won't establish a high-wage headquarters in a city like Tucson.  They're okay with establishing low-wage call centers, back offices, and warehouses here, as, for example, Amazon is doing by building its second distribution center in Tucson.  But the executives are not okay with moving offices here for themselves and other highly paid employees. 

Maybe they don't like Latinos or the poor.  That might explain why Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is comfortable in Seattle and Arlington, both of which have about one-sixth the percent of Latinos as Tucson does.  

At the same time, Bezos' newspaper, the Washington Post, decries Trump's immigration policies and implies that he is a jingoist who hates brown people. 

Bezos would probably respond with a canard:  that Tucson doesn't have the talent and amenities that Amazon requires.  That would be the same company that is supposed to be good at data mining.

If the company had only scratched the surface when examining places to locate, it might have been put off by the City of Tucson's high rate of property crimes, high rate of school dropouts, low test scores, and a low percent of college graduates compared to Seattle and Arlington. 

But if Amazon had dug deeper, it would have seen that the surrounding suburbs are wealthier and better educated than the city, albeit far less so than Seattle or Arlington.  And Amazon would have found the following additional facts about the Tucson metropolis:

- that it has 1.1 million people and all that a metropolis of this size has to offer;

- that it has the University of Arizona and its astronomy, space and optics specialties, as well as traditional degree programs such as computer engineering;

-  that it has Raytheon's missile division, which employs 9,000 talented rocket scientists and is hiring 2,000 more engineers;

- that in addition to magnet schools and other charter schools, it has two Basis schools, which rank near the top worldwide in academics;

- that it has a beautiful natural setting, a desirable climate, affordable housing, cultural attractions, a hip downtown, and a proud Hispanic heritage;

- that it is a cycling and hiking mecca;

- that it has a convenient airport with parking just hundreds of feet from the terminal, short lines at security, and almost no delays due to bad weather locally; and

- that it has lower taxes, less traffic, easier commutes, and a better quality of life than nearby California.

But the best feature of metro Tucson is that it is the real deal.  It is not phony or pretentious like uber-wealthy locales.  Nor is it hypocritical about immigration and racial diversity.

Well, that's not entirely true.  There is plenty of hypocrisy at the University of Arizona.  Recently, a hysterical student disrupted a presentation on campus by Immigration and Custom Enforcement, thus denying the presenters their right of free speech.  Then when the university president said he would take action against the student, teachers and students marched in protest.  The hypocrisy is this:  Students don't want immigration laws enforced, but few of them stay in Tucson upon graduation.  The vast majority move to cities that have better career opportunities, less poverty, and fewer Latinos.       

Tucson will only get poorer if poor immigrants keep crossing the border to live here while rich companies don't move their headquarters and highly paid executives here to improve the wage and tax base.

Although I hate to compliment Trump, there was some truth in what he said about busing immigrants.  If the rich and their rich companies won't move to Tucson, then we should give poor immigrants the option and means to move to locales that have more money to help them.