Go Big, Then Go Smart: Trump, ICE, and the Law. How to Skip the Left’s PR Trap.
Every delay has consequences.
The current obstruction and violence against federal agents trying to expel illegal aliens—committed by far-left activists and encouraged by left-wing politicians—is unacceptable.
In June 2025, in Los Angeles, agents carrying out due process against illegal aliens were assaulted. Mayor Karen Bass blamed federal enforcement for her city’s lawless protests, only ordering a curfew when dozens of businesses were looted.
In September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, arresting many criminal illegal aliens in the face of violent protests with no support from Mayor Brandon Johnson or Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Last October, a brawl occurred outside a Portland, Oregon, ICE facility between Antifa and conservative activists. In Portland, officers shot two alleged members of Venezuela’s deadly Tren de Aragua gang who had attempted to run them over.
And we all know what happened in Minneapolis between an ICE agent and slain activist Renee Good on Jan. 18. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded with a mix of falsehood and hyperbole. He ignored the fact that the ICE agents were there to arrest illegal immigrants—usually highly dangerous recidivist criminals—pursuant to U.S. law.
Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Frey dialed up the rhetoric, encouraged protests, and supplied no effective state and city law enforcement assistance to the Department of Homeland Security. The ingredients were there for another senseless death, and a week later, ICE agents shot Alex Pretti in another confused melee between protesters and federal agents.
President Donald Trump has options.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code allows him to deploy federal troops in instances of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the U.S. government to protect federal agents and property.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows him to deploy troops to “enforce the laws” of the United States or to “suppress rebellion” whenever “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable” to enforce federal law in a state.
Immigration enforcement is a federal duty. The Constitution’s supremacy clause means that federal law overrides state law. No governor or mayor, no matter how left-wing their own policies, can refuse to allow federal agents to do their duty.
Private citizens who impede federal agents (or local police) from doing their jobs are committing a felony. Noncitizens who do so carry the risk not only of criminal charges, but also of deportation resulting from a conviction.
The Trump administration must show that they will not be intimidated by mobs, nor threatened by grandstanding local politicians.
But once that point is made, DHS and ICE need to change gears to avoid falling into the obvious PR trap that’s been set for them. For ICE, arresting dangerous felons in tough neighborhoods in cities run by left-wing mayors is a triple threat.
First, agents must worry about the aliens themselves, who may be armed and dangerous.
Second, they have to watch out for activist mobs impeding their vehicles, throwing things, assaulting officers and possibly worse.
Third, they must travel in large numbers, knowing that …
Every delay has consequences.
The current obstruction and violence against federal agents trying to expel illegal aliens—committed by far-left activists and encouraged by left-wing politicians—is unacceptable.
In June 2025, in Los Angeles, agents carrying out due process against illegal aliens were assaulted. Mayor Karen Bass blamed federal enforcement for her city’s lawless protests, only ordering a curfew when dozens of businesses were looted.
In September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, arresting many criminal illegal aliens in the face of violent protests with no support from Mayor Brandon Johnson or Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Last October, a brawl occurred outside a Portland, Oregon, ICE facility between Antifa and conservative activists. In Portland, officers shot two alleged members of Venezuela’s deadly Tren de Aragua gang who had attempted to run them over.
And we all know what happened in Minneapolis between an ICE agent and slain activist Renee Good on Jan. 18. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded with a mix of falsehood and hyperbole. He ignored the fact that the ICE agents were there to arrest illegal immigrants—usually highly dangerous recidivist criminals—pursuant to U.S. law.
Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Frey dialed up the rhetoric, encouraged protests, and supplied no effective state and city law enforcement assistance to the Department of Homeland Security. The ingredients were there for another senseless death, and a week later, ICE agents shot Alex Pretti in another confused melee between protesters and federal agents.
President Donald Trump has options.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code allows him to deploy federal troops in instances of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the U.S. government to protect federal agents and property.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows him to deploy troops to “enforce the laws” of the United States or to “suppress rebellion” whenever “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable” to enforce federal law in a state.
Immigration enforcement is a federal duty. The Constitution’s supremacy clause means that federal law overrides state law. No governor or mayor, no matter how left-wing their own policies, can refuse to allow federal agents to do their duty.
Private citizens who impede federal agents (or local police) from doing their jobs are committing a felony. Noncitizens who do so carry the risk not only of criminal charges, but also of deportation resulting from a conviction.
The Trump administration must show that they will not be intimidated by mobs, nor threatened by grandstanding local politicians.
But once that point is made, DHS and ICE need to change gears to avoid falling into the obvious PR trap that’s been set for them. For ICE, arresting dangerous felons in tough neighborhoods in cities run by left-wing mayors is a triple threat.
First, agents must worry about the aliens themselves, who may be armed and dangerous.
Second, they have to watch out for activist mobs impeding their vehicles, throwing things, assaulting officers and possibly worse.
Third, they must travel in large numbers, knowing that …
Go Big, Then Go Smart: Trump, ICE, and the Law. How to Skip the Left’s PR Trap.
Every delay has consequences.
The current obstruction and violence against federal agents trying to expel illegal aliens—committed by far-left activists and encouraged by left-wing politicians—is unacceptable.
In June 2025, in Los Angeles, agents carrying out due process against illegal aliens were assaulted. Mayor Karen Bass blamed federal enforcement for her city’s lawless protests, only ordering a curfew when dozens of businesses were looted.
In September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, arresting many criminal illegal aliens in the face of violent protests with no support from Mayor Brandon Johnson or Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Last October, a brawl occurred outside a Portland, Oregon, ICE facility between Antifa and conservative activists. In Portland, officers shot two alleged members of Venezuela’s deadly Tren de Aragua gang who had attempted to run them over.
And we all know what happened in Minneapolis between an ICE agent and slain activist Renee Good on Jan. 18. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded with a mix of falsehood and hyperbole. He ignored the fact that the ICE agents were there to arrest illegal immigrants—usually highly dangerous recidivist criminals—pursuant to U.S. law.
Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Frey dialed up the rhetoric, encouraged protests, and supplied no effective state and city law enforcement assistance to the Department of Homeland Security. The ingredients were there for another senseless death, and a week later, ICE agents shot Alex Pretti in another confused melee between protesters and federal agents.
President Donald Trump has options.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code allows him to deploy federal troops in instances of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the U.S. government to protect federal agents and property.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows him to deploy troops to “enforce the laws” of the United States or to “suppress rebellion” whenever “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable” to enforce federal law in a state.
Immigration enforcement is a federal duty. The Constitution’s supremacy clause means that federal law overrides state law. No governor or mayor, no matter how left-wing their own policies, can refuse to allow federal agents to do their duty.
Private citizens who impede federal agents (or local police) from doing their jobs are committing a felony. Noncitizens who do so carry the risk not only of criminal charges, but also of deportation resulting from a conviction.
The Trump administration must show that they will not be intimidated by mobs, nor threatened by grandstanding local politicians.
But once that point is made, DHS and ICE need to change gears to avoid falling into the obvious PR trap that’s been set for them. For ICE, arresting dangerous felons in tough neighborhoods in cities run by left-wing mayors is a triple threat.
First, agents must worry about the aliens themselves, who may be armed and dangerous.
Second, they have to watch out for activist mobs impeding their vehicles, throwing things, assaulting officers and possibly worse.
Third, they must travel in large numbers, knowing that …
