Some Key Takeaways on Opposition to ICE Raids in California

Energy on the streets will be needed to defeat Trumpism, but there are much better issues to protest about than immigration enforcement

I appreciate the dialogue and critique of my piece yesterday in which I suggested that opposition to immigration enforcement actions was a bad strategy for Democrats. These issues are so important that it is worth digging into them a bit more.

Here are some additional thoughts:

Protest the Right Issues

I agree that Democrats need to take to the streets and show energy about things they care about. As Ben Rhodes has suggested:

To me, you just need to show energy, whether it’s in moral outrage or determination... People just need to get in the streets, or businesses need to start binding together. Institutions need to stop capitulating. I mean, the way you get out of things like that is you grab one another’s hand.

But I really don’t think that protesting ICE enforcement raids is the issue on which Democrats should plant their flag.

There are so many others.

I would love to see mass protests about the outrages of the Big Beautiful Bill that throws kids off of Medicaid while providing over $4 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans (through lower marginal rates, cuts to the alternative minimum tax, corporate tax cuts, and estate and gift tax cuts). I would love to see mass protests over termination of life-saving medical research or the decimation of health care for our veterans. Americans should be protesting the massive corruption of Trump using governmental regulatory power to enhance a crypto-scheme to massively enrich himself and his family. We should take to the streets to protest every aspect of the creeping authoritarianism of the Trump regime—whether the intentional destruction of our universities, crippling lawsuits against the free press, weaponization of the criminal justice process to stifle political debate, or mass abuse of pardons to immunize lawbreaking by Trump loyalists.

Of all these issues, immigration enforcement is the single issue on which (with notable exceptions like birthright citizenship), it is Trump and MAGA who are on the side of the rule of law and the protestors who are obstructing a valid law enforcement action.

Contest Unjust Immigration Policy Wisely

I certainly oppose, and I think Democrats should oppose, large scale deportations of law-abiding immigrants who have worked hard in this country for many years, paid taxes, and contributed to their communities. We should also oppose the deportation of children brought to this country by their parents who have known no other home but the United States.

But pelting ICE agents with rocks, graffitiing federal buildings, and waving Mexican flags is not the way to garner sympathy for this mainly popular position. A far better way to do so is to tell the stories of those targeted for deportation by Trump and flood the media with testimonials about how they have contributed positively to this country. Show the pictures of middle-aged women and young children being dragged from their homes or places of employment by ICE agents garbed in paramilitary gear. These are forms of protest that will move the needle against Trump’s heinous policies. What has transpired in Los Angeles and elsewhere are counterproductive and will only serve to galvanize support for Trump’s program of mass deportation.

Anti-Trump Protests Will Need to Be Entirely Non-Violent to Succeed

Even the most protestor-friendly news coverage I have read has described them as “mostly peaceful.” In the era of Trump, this just isn’t going to cut it.

I believe the time will come when there is a peaceful mass protest of Trump policies that Trump will not be able to stomach, he will call out the military to quash it, and there will be horrible images of troops and/or police using excessive force against innocent protestors. When this happens, it will be the beginning of the end of this regime.

But the Trump-opposition is going to have to be far more disciplined to bring about this moment. As I understand it, the conflict in Los Angeles was initiated with protestors attempting to obstruct law enforcement action, ICE acting to disperse the protestors, and then the protestors escalating with violence in response to use of tear-gas and other non-lethal force against them. The protests then moved to a federal building, where this pattern repeated itself and at times spiraled out of control.

Any use of violence against federal agents and federal facilities is catnip to the authoritarians running the Trump Administration. These kinds of violence will be characterized as an insurrection against the federal government and used to justify the federalization of the National Guard or deployment of federal troops. Entirely non-violent protests will be the only way to capture and maintain the high road.

Disciplined non-violence was the cornerstone of the civil rights movement. I believe we will need to muster the same type of effort to overturn the authoritarianism of the Trump regime.

Democrats Need an Immigration Policy

Everyone knew where Trump stood on immigration in the past election—the border should be closed, all undocumented persons should be deported, and most pathways for legal immigration (like asylum or the refugee program) should be dramatically reduced. I am not even sure that a majority of Americans agreed with this policy, but they gave Trump credit for being absolutely clear and determined.

I challenge anyone to describe what the Democrats’ policy on immigration was in one, two or even three pity sentences. I did not once hear Kamala Harris say something like: “I will deport every undocumented person convicted of a violent felony on day one.” That might not have won her the election, but it might have helped.

Over six months after the election disaster, I still do not know what Democrats believe on this issue, which we know will be a continuing drum-beat throughout the Trump years. The protests have only muddled this further. Do Democrats oppose all ICE raids? How about the ones that indeed are targeting violent felons? Do we believe that any non-violent undocumented person present in the United States should be allowed to stay here indefinitely and work? If so, how do we reconcile this with our insistence in every other context that the federal government must follow the law? Do we believe that people who cross the border illegally and claim asylum should be detained and immediately deported, or allowed to reside inside the United States for years while awaiting their asylum hearing (this, by the way, was the Biden Administration policy until July 2023)?

The pathway back to power for Democrats requires the party to be more honest with the voters about what we believe. Democrats also need to demonstrate to voters that we are willing to take clear positions on key issues even if those positions appear to offend parts of our electoral coalition. I do not insist that Democrats’ immigration policy reflect my exact policy preferences; but I do insist that they have one.