I’ve served in combat zones around the world, walked high-crime foot patrol, and deployed to our southern border. I know what happens when we let chaos overtake order. And what’s happening right now in Los Angeles is a warning we must not ignore.

The riots burning the city to the ground are not “peaceful protests.” They’re not calls for justice. They’re organized criminality, fueled by radicals and thugs who have no respect for our laws, law enforcement, or our country. In my experience, when this kind of unrest takes root, you respond with strength. Not surrender.

Recommended Stories

• Next, eliminate the mortgage interest deduction
• What Democrats and the media get wrong about due process
• The Left proves that we need mass deportations

That’s why I stand with the brave men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the National Guard, and our Marine Corps. ICE has been asked to deport criminals here illegally, and the Guard and Corps have been asked to protect federal property and ICE agents. Liberals want to tie their hands behind their backs. In fact, a judge just ruled that only the state of California, not Trump, has the authority to deploy the National Guard in this case.

I say let them do their jobs. We cannot allow American cities to become lawless war zones because Democrats are afraid of their party’s base.

Criminals here illegally have no place in our country. These are gangbangers and thugs. They were welcomed here by the Biden administration and have been terrorizing communities. Now, they’re destroying property and assaulting police officers. 

I have personal experience with this issue. For 17 years, I was chief of police in Doraville, a small and diverse city northeast of Atlanta. I’ve personally arrested and deported criminal illegal immigrants. I also spent four decades in the Army, enlisting as a private and retiring as a two-star major general. When President Donald Trump took office in 2017, I was the first senior military officer sent to the border to implement his agenda.

At the border, I saw two things firsthand: The danger posed by unchecked illegal immigration is real, and Trump’s agenda is the key to stopping it.

We must deport those who break our laws and endanger our citizens. If a foreign national riots, loots, and attacks law enforcement, he should be deported immediately. If he has a visa, revoke it. We should also strengthen the penalties for American citizens who choose to break the law, riot, and attack law enforcement.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about our national security and protecting law-abiding people. It’s crazy to me that Democrats disagree. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is suing Trump. He should be owning up to the fact that his policies helped create the chaos, and the National Guard was only federalized because he didn’t have the courage to do it himself.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), other Democrats, and media pundits are all telling us not to believe our lying eyes. They’re saying Los Angeles is “mostly peaceful,” and “just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn.” They think everyday people are gullible enough to fall for it.

And then there are others, such as Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who simply aren’t saying a word, just like they didn’t say anything when the Biden administration allowed our country to be invaded in the first place. Their silence is a disgrace. 

It all comes back to this: the Left cares a lot more about keeping its base happy and sticking it to Trump than doing what’s right for America. Leftists defend MS-13 gangbangers, cheer sanctuary cities that won’t cooperate with ICE, and are fine letting cities burn if it fits their political goals.

Fortunately, Trump isn’t someone who backs down. He’s a fighter, and right now, we need a fighter in the White House. 

JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP TO RELINQUISH CONTROL OF NATIONAL GUARD TO CALIFORNIA, SAYS DEPLOYMENT ILLEGAL

As someone who’s served in uniform, law enforcement, and now public office, I reject the Left’s chaos and destruction. I fully support Trump’s mission of deporting criminal illegal immigrants, keeping our border secure, and keeping America safe. He’s willing to make tough calls to protect this country and deserves our backup. 

I didn’t spend most of my life serving America to watch it be torn apart from within by rioters. We’re a nation of laws. Let’s act like it.

John King is a retired two-star major general in the Army National Guard, former police chief, and current Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire commissioner. He is running for U.S. Senate in 2026.