Liberals blame President Donald Trump for the violence in Los Angeles. What else is new? But the root of the chaos on the streets of the City of Angels goes beyond one troubled metropolis. It addresses the fundamental issue of whether a nation has the right to preserve and defend its sovereignty and, by extension, its national security.
When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth executed the commander-in-chief’s orders to activate the California National Guard to protect federal agents and property, he said it was a national security issue. That is not hyperbole: Wanton destruction of private property and assaulting federal officers in the performance of their duties are national security threats. This is particularly true when those federal agents are in the process of apprehending illegal aliens who run the gamut from criminals to potential terrorists. As the secretary of defense explained in an X posting: “The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK.”
Furthermore, the millions of illegals who flooded the border during Joe Biden’s administration have created a subculture of irredentists who believe the land that Mexico lost in the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s should be returned to Mexico. Progressive organizations and far-left individuals nursing enmity toward the United States have created riots and civic unrest across the nation. As Zerohedge.com observed, “[A]utonomously acting Mexican nationalists [are] among the illegal immigrant, naturalized, and second- and later-generation communities in LA that are participating in the unrest together with US leftists.”
Observers have noted that Los Angeles is a significant commercial hub, and continuing civil unrest could disrupt port operations, placing critical supply chains that fuel the US economy in jeopardy. Clearly, the Trump administration does not want the violence to escalate. A Wall Street Journal article reported: “Large protests panning Trump’s immigration policies continued to spread to cities across the country on Tuesday night (June 10). In New York, hundreds gathered in Manhattan across from the federal buildings that house immigration operations, while in the Atlanta area, demonstrators lined Buford Highway, according to news footage.” With a substantial response by federal troops, there is less likelihood of violence like that in Los Angeles spreading. In addition, without decisive military action, adversary nations and transnational criminals could perceive weakness in the US government and take the opportunity to attack American institutions globally.
Outside anarchists and anti-American groups pose a continuing threat. Still, when local law enforcement is unable to handle the violence, and federal agents and federal facilities are endangered, it becomes a national risk. As McDonnell asserted, “We are overwhelmed as far as the number of people out there engaged in this type of activity [looting] and the type of things that they’re doing. They’ll take backpacks, and the backpack will have a cinderblock in it … they’ll break up the cinderblock and use that, pass it around to throw at officers.” He went on to explain, “Even more disgusting, many of the people who are doing this come in from other places just to hurt people and cause havoc.”
Los Angeles is the poster child for the sanctuary city dilemma. Whether he understood the implication of his words or not, Chief McDonnell put the problem succinctly. Answering the criticism that the LAPD had not responded to endangered ICE agents who were impeded from doing their jobs, McDonnell defended his police department by saying, “LAPD was not given advanced notice that the federal operations would occur in that area, as a result, we were not pre-positioned to respond immediately to the unrest related to those actions.”
However, he quickly added, “I want to be unequivocally clear: the Los Angeles Police Department does not participate in or coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” Therein lies the problem. If you don’t coordinate with ICE, what makes you think ICE would inform the LAPD of its operations? Add to this circumstance the fact that when ICE does make its intentions known, leaks to activists alert the agitators, which makes matters worse.
With as many as 54% (New York Times/Ipsos poll) of Hispanics supporting the deportation of aliens who entered the United States illegally, polling confirms Americans want their neighborhoods to be safe and welcome Trump’s initiatives to do that. The Defense Department’s response to the LA riots put on notice radical protectors of criminal aliens and those who would put national security at risk. Not on Trump’s watch.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.