Throughout the rioting in her city, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has frequently lashed out at President Donald Trump's decision to send National Guard and active-duty troops to protect federal buildings and keep the peace. "It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case," Bass told reporters Monday, "a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government."
Of course, Bass was referring to the Trump's administration's decision to enforce immigration law, which set off protests and then rioting in the so-called "sanctuary city" of Los Angeles. That, Bass believes, is an example of the federal government "taking away" authority from state and local governments.
The only problem is, the state and local governments do not have any authority to enforce immigration law. The sole power to do that lies with the federal government. Bass can look it up. So can Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.
The federal government's supremacy in such matters has long been established, but a relatively recent Supreme Court case that some might remember was Arizona v. United States. In that case, the state of Arizona -- actually the Republican officials at the top of state government -- said to then-President Barack Obama: You're not enforcing immigration law, so we will. And Obama said: No, you won't.
The case went to court. Obama argued that the federal government has the sole power to enforce immigration law, including the power not to enforce immigration law if the president so chooses. It's not your decision, Obama told Arizona officials. Obama won, and that was that.
Now, a dozen years later, the problem at the root of the unrest in California is that state and local officials appear to believe they can have their own immigration law. But the lesson of Arizona v. United States is that they can't do that. It is a pretty simple story. And in this case, it means that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is able to enforce federal immigration law in Los Angeles, in California and all across the country.
Bass and Newsom also seem to think that the president should not be able to send the National Guard to Los Angeles when the governor has not requested it. Newsom has just filed suit against President Trump over the issue. But he and the mayor are, unfortunately for them, on the wrong side of that question, too. Yes, usually when a president sends the National Guard, it is at the request of a state's governor. But not always.
In 1965, during the Civil Rights era, President Lyndon Johnson wanted to send the National Guard to Alabama to protect participants in the Selma to Montgomery march. Alabama Gov. George Wallace did not want that. Johnson won the argument because he was president of the United States. Now, Trump can send the Guard to Los Angeles because he is president of the United States.
That's law and history. But Bass and Newsom are also on the wrong side of the politics of immigration. A recent CBS News poll found that 54% of those surveyed approved of the "Trump administration's program to deport immigrants illegally in the United States." More people also said the deportations are making people safer than not, although fewer liked Trump's methods.
The big picture is that Trump has a lot going for him in the immigration standoff, and Bass and Newsom -- and their party -- do not. "The chaos in Southern California could have been designed in a lab to exploit Democratic weak spots, combining the issues of illegal immigration, crime and public disorder," writes moderate Democratic analyst Ruy Teixeira. "Democrats do not have to cheer on every ICE raid, but they have to be seen to prioritize law and order and not deny the reality on the ground of violent protests."
Everyone should hope that the violence and disorder come to an end soon in Los Angeles. But the Trump administration will continue to deport people, especially criminals, who are in the United States unlawfully. And leaders like Karen Bass, Gavin Newsom, and other Democrats around the country will continue to resist. There is more conflict to come.
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