The deployment of 2,000 National Guard has generated more headlines than the trashing of the southern states in the big tornadoes a couple of weeks back. In a city the size of LA, 2000 people could get lost in a street fair, armed or not.
The “riots” appear to have involved a few bottles being thrown, like a rowdy weekend. Even FOX News hasn’t cited any serious casualties among protesters or law enforcement. By global standards, the anti-ICE riots seem strangely unremarkable.
. Next, it’s the Marines, “if necessary”.
Marines? Bit of a comedown from Iwo Jima, isn’t it? I can see it now – “How we stormed the beaches of the takeout counter at Wendy’s”, etc.
Meanwhile, politics continues to very expensively dwarf realities.
A quick rundown:
Trump declared war on illegal immigrants in his campaign.
LA is very much a Latino city, and Latinos were very conspicuously among those targeted for deportation.
A very large amount of money is being spent deporting people who usually make low wages. This huge hit to the budget was predicted by just about everyone.
Six months of ICE at work have achieved around 72,000 actual removals according to TRAC Immigration. The service has a few other highly unflattering things to say about the administration’s cheering for itself. Like the Biden administration removing about three times more illegal immigrants, without the chronic dysfunctions and questionable legalities.
$150 billion is in the budget for immigration enforcement. In another six months, the number of removals would be 150,000 at the current rate. There are believed to be about 10 million illegal immigrants in the US. Do the numbers and figure out the time frames.
Given the number of people allegedly trying to get into the US over the years, you can assume that they haven’t stopped coming. Numbers were already dropping from January 2024. They’re still coming, and the lowest number for one month was around 50,000 in January 2025.
On that basis, about 300,000 people would have entered the US since Trump took office, and ICE has removed 72,000 in the same length of time. Also note that simply because these are illegal entries, the likely numbers are somewhat higher.
Not too impressive, is it?
On the even less impressive side, we have a supposed desire to Federalize the National Guard. This issue has a severe sting in it. Usually, the National Guard is under state control, unless there’s a war. The President, or blurry, unfocused alleged president in this case, takes command during wartime.
Russia has a similar system, except that Putin already directly controls their national guard. Encouraging, isn’t it?
Many critics, credible or otherwise, have stated that Trump wanted to use a domestic issue to impose martial law and become a dictator.
Well, he can’t do it like that.
You can’t declare war on your own country.
Not even in the name of national security.
You can bankrupt it, neglect it, and humiliate it, but you can’t nuke it or “conquer” it.
Seems unfair, doesn’t it?
It’s cost trillions, anyway.
“We have met the enemy, and this time he really is us.”
