OPINION:
Don’t be fooled by the carefully planned chaos unfolding in Minneapolis.
Today’s street theater isn’t just about immigration enforcement any more than the 2025 “No Kings” protests were just about challenging President Trump’s authority or the 2020 George Floyd riots were just about so-called police brutality.
All are part of a revolution in the making that could spell the end of democracy in America.
Left-wing agitators plan to destroy constitutional government. The battle to keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting murderers and rapists is the latest front in a wide-ranging war.
After the death of an agitator trying to impede ICE operations — Renee Good is the martyr the left has been praying for — the ICE Out for Good Coalition planned more than 1,000 demonstrations nationwide.
The battle of Minneapolis will decide whether America is governed democratically or ruled by self-appointed elites backed by goon squads.
In 2024, voters spoke decisively. On his promise to close the border and deport illegal aliens, Mr. Trump was elected president, carrying every swing state and becoming the first Republican in 20 years to win a majority of the popular vote.
Immigration control has two equally important components: border security and internal enforcement. Since radicals can’t forcibly reopen our southern border, they focus on attacking internal enforcement with the aid of their allies in the media and the Democratic Party.
Agitators have clashed repeatedly with federal agents. ICE officers have been shot at, had their vehicles rammed, been doxed and received death threats, which have increased 8,000% in the past year.
What it lost at the polls in 2024 the left intends to take back in the streets in 2026. It’s not about abolishing ICE but abolishing America by nullifying the democratic process.
Every totalitarian dictatorship started with violence in the streets. The French Revolution started with the storming the Bastille and ended in the Reign of Terror. The Russian Revolution began by Bolsheviks storming the Winter Palace and ended in firing squads and gulags. National Socialism started with Brownshirts brawling in the streets of Weimar Germany and ended in World War II and the Holocaust.
Tragically, the tide seems to be turning against the rule of law. In a December Pew Research poll, 53% said the Trump administration is doing “too much” on deportations, up from 44% in March.
It would have been interesting to have asked respondents what they meant by “too much.” For instance, “Is the administration doing too much by deporting gang members and those who sexually assault children?”
Even more disheartening is a Jan. 13 poll by The Economist in which more Americans favored abolishing ICE (46%) than keeping it (43%). Without ICE, who do they think will arrest criminal aliens in sanctuary cities — the Campfire Girls?
Revolutionaries understand the importance of images. In 2024, viewers saw tens of thousands of illegal immigrants streaming across our southern border. In 2026, they see ICE agents in tactical gear confronting demonstrators. Thanks to carefully managed news, they don’t see the latter shoving, spitting on, shooting fireworks or throwing ice-filled bottles at federal agents.
In another survey, only 24% of Americans said it was acceptable to go beyond peaceful protest in response to ICE enforcement. Still, 61% of White women ages 18 to 44 — who have become the shock troops of the revolution — said violence is justified to stop ICE.
Someone should show them pictures of the women raped and murdered by the sorts of monsters they want to protect. Victims include 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was repeatedly raped and then strangled to death by two Venezuelans.
The revolution never shows its true colors until it’s too late.
In 1917, the Bolsheviks didn’t tell the Russian people: “Hey, guys, we want to enslave you. We want to take away your land and put you on collective farms. We want torture cells and gulags.” Imagine how well that would have gone over.
The current crop of revolutionaries is not telling the American people: “We want to abolish private homeownership. We want state-run everything. We want massive redistribution of wealth. We want to throw the borders wide open once more and replace the current population with the dregs of the Third World to facilitate our control of what once was America.”
To get that message, you have to read between the lines. When your foot is caught in the jaws of a steel trap, it will be too late.
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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