It is looking more and more like it will be a long, hot summer in America.
President Trump’s immigration crackdown triggered protests in California last weekend that have now spread across the country. Many of the protests are peaceful, but some are violent, destructive and unlawful. Police have arrested dozens of individuals.
Trump has responded by sending in the National Guard and even the Marines in Los Angeles, a move that has been criticized by Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom. They say local and state authorities can handle the protests, and the presence of armed soldiers exacerbate the situation.
Trump has long promised to crack down on those in the country illegally, so the ICE raids and the government’s immigration policies are no surprise. Immigration is his political strong suit, at least compared with other issues. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted earlier this month before the protests found that 54 percent of Americans said they approve of Trump’s deportation policy.
We will see what the public thinks after they watch a few days of the news coverage, but I would not be shocked if his numbers went up. Americans generally do not like destructive behavior, regardless of whether it comes from the left or the right. The image of a protester standing near a burning vehicle and waving a Mexican flag is enough to offend most Americans.
As the Wall Street Journal opined, “Chaos on the streets will increase public support for a hard-line restrictionist agenda.”
Trump has repeatedly said his administration is targeting violent criminals in the country illegally. A Pew Research Survey earlier this year found that 97 percent of those questioned agreed that people who have committed violent crimes should be forced to leave.
However, some of these ICE raids have targeted individuals who may be in the country illegally, but they are working or serving as day laborers. Those actions are more for show. ICE could spend years storming commercial kitchens, agriculture businesses, day-labor hangouts, construction sites and landscaping businesses and never make a substantial dent in the population of illegals.
Additionally, it is troubling when a president acts unilaterally to activate the National Guard and the Marines. Typically, the Guard is under the jurisdiction of the states and the Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from engaging in civilian law enforcement except when necessary to suppress an insurrection. Supporters of Trump’s actions argue if these cities could control their own streets, the president wouldn’t have to call out the troops.
One of the primary responsibilities of a government is to secure the borders. The United States has failed miserably on that front. The Biden administration fell flat on the issue. As the New York Times reported in November, 2024, “The immigration system Mr. Biden pledged to fix remains fundamentally broken, and some of his actions at the border moved the problem deeper into the country.”
Congress has been no better. Last year, Oklahoma Senator Republican James Lankford worked for months on a bipartisan bill on immigration and border security. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a legitimate step in the right direction… and the conservative senator was excoriated for it by members of his own party.
Then-candidate Trump made opposition to the bill a litmus test for Republicans. He called the bill “a great gift to the Democrats and a death wish for the Republican Party.” The legislation was dead on arrival.
That was a major failure—one of many on the issue—that led us to where we are today. It is a tragic irony that the United States, a nation of immigrants that depends upon immigration for labor and innovation, relies on an immigration policy of violence and executive overreach.