Karen Bass’ ICE protest defies law, fuels LA chaos

In yet another low point for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), she marched into the drug-ridden chaos of MacArthur Park — press corps in tow — to join a protest last week against federal immigration enforcement. She demanded that agents leave the area immediately. The stunt accomplished nothing beyond generating a photo op and pushing the false narrative that Bass stood for her city’s “honor.”

In reality, her appearance exposed a familiar truth: Sanctuary city mayors like Bass offer no real solutions to the crises they helped create. Worse, they routinely display ignorance of how federalism actually works.

The 2024 election was a clear rebuke of sanctuary city policies and the broader anti-borders agenda that Bass represents.

The Supremacy Clause — Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution — makes clear that federal law overrides state and local laws when they conflict. Immigration policy, long upheld by the courts as a federal responsibility, lies squarely within Washington’s authority. In Arizona v. United States (2012), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that states and localities cannot pursue policies that obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

By declaring Los Angeles a sanctuary city and demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stand down, Bass didn’t just express a policy preference. She tried to seize power that the Constitution explicitly grants to the federal government.

This isn’t a symbolic squabble. Immigration enforcement involves national security, public safety, and international diplomacy. Local governments lack both the authority and the expertise to handle these matters on their own.

Sanctuary cities in crisis

The leftist mayor’s public campaign against ICE is especially galling considering that the agency’s presence in Los Angeles stems directly from the city’s sanctuary policies. For years, Los Angeles has limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities, refusing to honor ICE detainers and withholding information when illegal aliens are released from custody.

Bass and her predecessors created the very conditions that now require federal intervention. Far from “overstepping” in L.A., ICE is responding to a city government that harbors people who violate federal immigration law, including those with serious criminal records.

RELATED: Karen Bass says LA anti-ICE riots ‘never happened’ as the media reported them

  Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The consequences of sanctuary policies have been devastating. Los Angeles, once a beacon of prosperity and opportunity, is struggling with high crime rates, strained public services, and a ballooning budget deficit.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, violent crime in the city increased by 11.6% from 2020 to 2022, with homicides spiking to levels not seen in over a decade. The city’s homeless population, which includes a significant number of illegal aliens, has surged to more than 75,000, overwhelming shelters and defiling public spaces.

Sanctuary policies worsen the crisis by cutting off cooperation with federal immigration authorities, giving criminal elements more room to operate unchecked. The burden on public resources grows heavier by the day. Los Angeles expects a $400 million budget shortfall in 2025, yet city leaders continue pouring funds into programs for illegal aliens, including legal aid and housing. These decisions reflect an ideological agenda that leaves taxpaying citizens footing the bill for rising crime and collapsing public services.

Bass’ posture isn’t just another act of left-wing defiance. It’s a warning sign of a national policy failure. Cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and New York have followed the same sanctuary script, and the results are as predictable as they are destructive: higher crime, strained infrastructure, and a public rapidly losing faith in its leaders.

In New York City, for instance, the influx of immigrants has pushed the city to the brink, with Mayor Eric Adams admitting in 2023 that the crisis could “destroy” the city. New York is no outlier. It is what happens when a city abandons order for lawlessness.

Enough is enough

Americans have had enough. The 2024 presidential election was a clear rebuke of sanctuary city policies and the broader anti-borders agenda that Bass represents. The L.A. mayor’s defiance of ICE is not just a legal overreach; it is a rejection of the democratic will of the American people, who have made it clear that they want safe streets, secure borders, and accountable leaders.

Instead of confronting the crime, homelessness, and fiscal crises fueled by her city’s policies, Bass chose to cling to a failed ideology. Her call for ICE to leave is not a defense of compassion but a surrender to anarchy. Americans deserve leaders who respect the Constitution rather than cling to a discredited sanctuary city experiment.