ICE has arrived, and Donald Trump has already provoked a strong reaction from the public. People took to the streets to demonstrate and condemn the immigration operations. Then the National Guard was deployed, and the situation became even more complex. The Governor of California repudiated a power usually granted to governors. Trump responded with threats of arrest. Governor Newsom replied with a lawsuit. And to top it off, hundreds of Marines arrived in Los Angeles, further complicating matters.
Various analysts have said: “It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Trump administration is spoiling for a fight on America’s streets.”
Violence is not acceptable, but neither is conducting operations without official documentation or giving people a chance to defend themselves.
There are disturbing images of children as young as five, six, and ten being handcuffed due to the agents’ lack of compassion. Babies have been ripped from their mothers’ arms. Some mothers were detained immediately after giving birth. Yet Trump and his officials continue to escalate tensions, using inflammatory language to describe hundreds of migrant workers.
Stephen Miller, one of President Trump’s closest advisers and the chief architect—aside from Trump himself—of the administration’s immigration policies, posted a single word: “Insurrection.”
Vice President JD Vance wrote a post suggesting that the courts should believe the country is facing an invasion—and that any unrest will help make his point. “So now,” Vance continued, “we have foreign nationals with no legal right to be in the country waving foreign flags and assaulting law enforcement. If only we had a good word for that…”
Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, posted his own screed online.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs—which everyone knows they can’t—then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”
That was Saturday. On Sunday evening, he posted again, stating he was “directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant departments and agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion and put an end to these migrant riots.”
The State of California has immense resources to address urban unrest, but Trump barely gave it a chance to respond.
It all comes down to one conclusion: Trump doesn’t like California. He doesn’t like Los Angeles—despite having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
If anyone is looking for a symbol of peace… just wait a minute. It doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon.
