OPINION:
The open borders uprising in Minneapolis turned deadly a second time over the weekend. Antifa-style agitators blew whistles, blocked the street and generally caused a ruckus as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers hunted illegal aliens with criminal rap sheets.
Liberal politicians can blame themselves for the latest casualty. An estimated 200 leftists showed up to obstruct immigration enforcement Saturday as Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, rejected federal pleas for local police help in restoring order.
The precise sequence of events leading up to the shooting is murky, but a general observation is in order. Anyone who carries concealed weapons knows the importance of being on good behavior, as picking fights while packing is a recipe for disaster.
Violently clashing with cops while armed is about the worst thing one can do when the feds have an itchy trigger finger, and for good reason. Not long before the incident, an officer with slower reflexes had his finger bitten off by an insurgent, said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino described what his people face in the field: “Across the country, the men and women of DHS have been attacked, shot at, doxed, had their family members threatened, and we have seen more than 100 vehicle rammings over the past year against federal law enforcement. We will not allow violence against our law enforcement officers.”
Rabid leftists shot President Trump. They executed Charlie Kirk. They attempted to assassinate ICE agents in Dallas. There can be no warm-and-fuzzy response to a movement with murderous intent.
When a Capitol Police officer killed Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021, the same people condemning ICE today said nothing. They didn’t call for Lt. Michael Byrd, the shooter, to be put on trial for murder. Babbitt wasn’t threatening, but she did start to climb through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby off the House chamber.
Crossing that line came with mortal consequences. So does accelerating a vehicle toward a cop. So does reaching for one’s waistband while resisting arrest.
If Democrats want federal police to display greater kindness and understanding, then they need to direct their highly organized foot soldiers to act with civility. That means no more doxing agents, no more throwing rocks and no more forming barricades on public streets.
Liberals call this a “protest,” as if participants were simply waving signs expressing their views while marching down a road. What’s happening is quite different. Paid provocateurs are tracking ICE operations and deliberately interfering.
When they thought they found a hotel where agents were staying, they made a racket. They spray-painted vulgar slogans onto the property, shattered glass doors and trashed the lobby. A municipal police officer stood by and let it happen.
The mob raised a similar clatter at the hotel that Vice President J.D. Vance used during his visit Thursday. The obnoxious commotion featured trumpets, honking horns and the banging of pots and pans. These not-so-bright revolutionaries accomplished only one thing: disturbing the slumber of innocent guests. Mr. Vance had returned to Washington hours earlier.
Democrats crave such havoc. “They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday, where someone tragically dies and politicians get to grandstand about the evils of enforcing the border,” Mr. Vance observed on X.
A government exists to keep the peace, which is why the administration must not cede ground to coordinated street thuggery.
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