While Americans like to imagine the United States as a nation defined by the rule of law and civil discourse, riots have long been a regular feature of our political life. From the unrest tied to the civil rights movement in the 1960s and ’70s to the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots in 2020, anyone surveying the past 60 years would come away stunned by the sheer volume of civil disorder. These uprisings typically centered on tensions between the black community and law enforcement — a reckoning, however painful, internal to the country.
What’s happening in Los Angeles this week is something else entirely. This isn’t domestic unrest. It’s an invasion. Illegal aliens have flooded the streets, waving foreign flags and openly declaring their intent to reclaim California in the name of Mexico. This isn’t just ideological subversion or economic pressure. It’s open confrontation, and it’s playing out on American soil.
These agitators know something mainstream conservatives do not: A nation is its people, not just a place.
Illegal immigration has pushed the United States to the brink. Everyone can feel it. Democrats have adopted open borders as de facto policy, aiming to replace the current population with more reliable voters while reshaping American culture. Republicans haven’t done much better. They offer amnesty and ignore conservative concerns about crime, jobs, and demographic collapse.
Parallel cultures — not assimilation
Communities that stood intact for generations now find themselves surrounded by strangers who neither speak the language nor express interest in assimilating. Ghettoization, not integration, has become the norm. That’s why voters gave Trump a second term. And that’s why his administration must finally deliver on immigration. A second failure to act would not just be political malpractice — it would be a civilizational betrayal.
We’re told illegal immigrants are hardworking dreamers who want a better life. Some are. But more come seeking access to welfare and jobs that allow them to send remittances home. The sheer volume of illegal aliens from countries like Mexico means they face little pressure to assimilate. They don’t need to. In many cities, they can live their entire lives inside self-sustaining ethnic enclaves.
The Trump administration has promised large-scale deportations. But for now, ICE has focused on the worst offenders: gang members, drug traffickers, and violent criminals. In Los Angeles, agents targeted those exact threats. There were no mass sweeps. But facts didn’t matter. Leftist nonprofits rallied protesters to the streets, ready to block arrests, assault officers, and ignite another round of mayhem.
As always, the progressive playbook called for riots. But this time, the optics changed. They don’t look like concerned citizens. They look like an invading army. And while media outlets still insist on calling it a protest, Americans watching footage of police cars in flames see something else.
Mexico-first loyalties
The truth cuts through the narrative: Most illegal immigrants are young, single, military-age men. That fact alone should reframe the entire debate. Any progressive organizer can choreograph a protest, but when idle, aggrieved men view it as an ethnic struggle, violence escalates. These men rally around the Mexican flag, shout slogans of vengeance, and praise “La Raza” with open hostility.
Some conservative commentators have mocked the spectacle: rioters waving the flag of a country they refuse to return to. But the joke reveals a blind spot. These agitators know something mainstream conservatives do not: A nation is its people, not just a place.
Many on the right have bought into a liberal fiction — that the U.S. is a territory defined by abstractions. The moment an illegal immigrant steps on “magic soil,” we’re told, he becomes American. But that’s not how immigrants think. Mexico is not just a location. It is an identity. Wherever Mexicans go, they carry Mexico with them. They do not wish to become Americans. They wish to conquer Americans.
And now, Mexico has made that agenda explicit.
President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to proposed remittance taxes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by declaring, “If necessary, we’ll mobilize. We don’t want taxes on remittances from our fellow countrymen, from the U.S. to Mexico.”
That statement says it all. Sheinbaum considers Mexicans in the United States her people. Their first loyalty, in her view, belongs to Mexico. She called on them to rise up and defend the 5% of Mexico’s economy that relies on remittances — a figure larger than tourism or most exports.
RELATED: No, you’re not a ‘xenophobe.’ You’re just awake.
Photo by BENJAMIN HANSON/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
If Mexico calling on its expatriate population to riot doesn’t count as hostile foreign interference, what does? The Mexican diaspora is not just a collection of humble workers sending money home. It is a pressure valve, a political weapon, and a massive revenue stream — and Mexico will fight to protect it.
In 2020, Trump paid a price for not cracking down on domestic unrest. This time, he hasn’t hesitated. ICE continues its operations. National Guard troops and U.S. Marines have been deployed to protect federal agents.
Stephen Miller and other Trump officials have made it clear: Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Mayor Karen Bass (D) have facilitated this violence, and ICE won’t back down. Every riot is a powder keg, and this one is no different. But the footage is damning. Americans see military-age foreigners vowing to retake California for Mexico.
Deportations: A national mandate
Trump didn’t manufacture this crisis. But he now has the clearest mandate imaginable to solve it. Mass deportations are not a talking point any more. They’re a national imperative. The window to act is narrow. But if he acts decisively, history will mark this moment as the one in which sovereignty was restored, not the one in which it finally slipped away.
To meet the moment, the Trump administration must do more than restore order. It must articulate a vision of national renewal. The American people have grown weary of half measures and cosmetic fixes. They want to know their leaders take the concept of citizenship seriously — and will defend it at all costs.
The riots in Los Angeles should be treated as a turning point. What began as a border crisis has become a test of national will. Trump’s legacy and the republic’s future depend on what happens next.
Opinion & analysis, Los angeles, Riots, Invasion, Mexico, Claudia scheinbaum, One big beautiful bill, Remittances, Illegal immigration, Illegal aliens, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Gavin newsom, Donald trump, Karen bass, Stephen miller, La raza, Mexican flags, Army, Assimilation, Open borders
