OPINION:
Anti-ICE agitators in Minneapolis are setting up roadblocks on public streets to interfere with federal law enforcement operations. This has been going on for weeks, and the Justice Department hasn’t done a thing about it.
Enterprising agents of the Homeland Security Department occasionally clear obstacles in their path. They might handcuff stray rioters, but everyone knows it’s a catch-and-release program. Leftists are fearless because they see their comrades facing no consequences for misbehavior. This is risky.
Independent journalist Cam Higby recently infiltrated a Signal chat group that he says belonged to “ICE Watch” activists. Messages describe the design behind the havoc. The encrypted platform passed along instructional manuals spelling out the movement’s intention to create martyrs and directing partisans to “Escalate at ICE abductions and create potential flashpoints.”
Understanding such material requires a knowledge of the Orwellian dictionary of the left. “Abduction” refers to the lawful arrest of someone who is violating federal immigration regulations. Insurgents may call themselves “observers,” but they are more than that because each is cautioned to “make sure you’re prepared for what risks you are willing to take.”
“Flashpoint” also has a specific meaning. “We mean any time and place where masses of people are directly confronting the armed forces of the state. … These possibilities are dangerous, but they are also sites at which we can escalate our resistance and inspire people into taking more militant, organized action.”
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is on board with this. Not long ago, she urged radical Minnesotans to “put their bodies on the line” to defend illegal aliens, granting the state’s imprimatur to further anti-ICE activism.
This often results in carelessly shielding malefactors. On Friday, the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference published a report quantifying the negative impact illegal immigration has had on the Volunteer State. It is a grim tale of 21,648 crimes charged in 2025 against intruders from more than 100 nations.
With 7 million residents, Tennessee represents a mere 2% of the national population, yet uninvited foreigners committed 41 murders and vehicular homicides. They were responsible for 1,592 assaults and 11 child rapes. They were caught stalking 23 times and were involved in 40 kidnappings. At least 2,920 illegals were picked up for endangering people on the roads by driving drunk.
Although not all illegals are violent, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are targeting the most flagrant criminal offenders out of the bunch. The public broadly supports this.
Rebels cannot be allowed to veto long-standing immigration statutes through mob action, nor should the government sit back as they dupe more gullible people into laying their bodies on the line to create flashpoints, with tragic results.
Far-left political conspiracies have crossed legal boundaries separating them from protected First Amendment activity. Leaked marching orders make it plain that the goal is to keep upping the pressure until something breaks. It’s straight out of the Bolshevik playbook.
Arresting easily replaceable foot soldiers isn’t the answer. Uncle Sam must go after the funders and organizers. That means pursuing the billionaires and foundations that spread chaos for political and financial gain.
So far, this Justice Department appears paralyzed, incapable of bringing leftist provocateurs to trial. Democrats demonstrated that the agency had the capacity to hunt 1,500 ordinary Americans from all over the country for trespassing on Jan. 6, 2021.
Deploying a fraction of this capability now would go a long way toward restoring the law and order voters asked for in 2024.
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