California’s Governor Gavin Newsom would like us to believe that the Federal Government and the military should not interfere in California. He says that the military has no business in the streets of L.A. because they are trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement.

Newsom claims that ICE activity in California is causing chaos and fear, claiming that “Trump’s agents” are terrorizing schools and arresting “dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses”, and that it is weakness masquerading as strength.

Newsom wants to protect illegal immigrants, including dangerous criminals, but what of the citizens of his state who are being harmed by the riots? What about the business owners and residents who have been injured or are seeing their property destroyed?

When a state’s leadership refuses to enforce the law, or cooperate with Federal authorities, it creates a vacuum of order that invites – indeed necessitates – federal action.

The U.S. Constitution, through the supremacy clause of Article 6, states that federal law is supreme over state law:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Immigration enforcement, including ICE activities, is a responsibility of the federal government and no state, whether or not they like those laws, has the authority to obstruct them.

Deploying troops is not an authoritarian action, but is done to prevent the loss of life and property, and this is not the first time that it has happened.

And let us not forget that our military members pledge to:

…support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me…

Newsom’s rhetoric echoes that of the secessionist rhetoric of the 19th century. Our Constitution does not grant states the rights to pick and choose which federal laws they will support, particularly regarding matters – like immigration – which are strictly under the purview of the federal government.

The United States cannot function as a nation if individual states can opt out of federal law enforcement whenever it suits their political preferences