It’s been a week since violent riots broke out in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted a series of raids. The left got their marching orders and started wreaking havoc on the city, knowing they’d likely get away with it at the local level.
“The real solution of all of this is for the administration to stop the raids,” failed Democratic Mayor Karen Bass lamented after days of burning and looting in the city. “We have heard these raids may take place for the next 30 days. We don’t know how many will take place.”
But it wasn’t the ICE raids that caused the chaos, and all of it was preventable.
For decades, California, and more specifically Los Angeles, has been a so-called “sanctuary” for illegal aliens — including convicted murderers, rapists, child molesters, and much more. In fact, sanctuary status has been repeatedly touted by leftist politicians for years and they’ve boasted about local law enforcement refusing to cooperate with federal authorities to get criminal aliens off of the streets.
“California's new governor is promising the most populous state will be a ‘sanctuary to all who seek it’ in a direct affront to President Donald Trump's immigration policies,” CBS News reported in 2019 about Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s inaugural address. “Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom challenged the Trump administration repeatedly as he was sworn in to office Monday, particularly on immigration.”
In fact, Los Angeles voted to permanently institute sanctuary policies last year for political reasons.
“Today, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to establish the City of Los Angeles as a 'Sanctuary City’ and prohibit any City resources, including property or personnel, from being utilized for any immigration enforcement. The approved ordinance, borne from a motion introduced by Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez, and Hugo Soto-Martinez and adopted unanimously in 2023, comes on the heels of the election of Donald J. Trump, who has expressed broad support for mass deportations across the country,” the official Los Angeles city website states.
“The newly adopted ordinance permanently enshrines sanctuary policies into municipal law and prohibits the use of City resources, including property and personnel, from being utilized for immigration enforcement or to cooperate with federal immigration agents engaged in immigration enforcement. Critically, the Ordinance also prohibits the direct and indirect sharing of data with federal immigration authorities,” it continues.
ICE raids wouldn't be as necessary if local law enforcement worked with the federal government on ICE retainers. It’s much less disruptive and dangerous for criminal aliens to be temporarily held in jails until agents can easily and peacefully transfer them into federal custody. Instead, Democrat policies put everyone at risk by forcing ICE into neighborhoods and public spaces to serve warrants. Despite the difficulties and non-cooperation, the work must be done.
"There are millions of illegal aliens in this city,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared. “We're going to stay here and build our operations until we make sure that we liberate the city of Los Angeles.”
Thirty days of raids is hardly enough, given the decades of harboring criminals. The long-awaited consequences for sanctuary policies have arrived. It’s about time.
