Americans tend to forget that the Civil War didn’t start overnight. The Confederate South’s desire to nullify federal law sparked multiple crises before Abraham Lincoln’s election, and we’re seeing a similar movement crystalize among Democrats today.
The neo-Confederate opposition to immigration law seemed to reach a fever pitch Wednesday, when Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz threatened to deploy his state’s National Guard troops against federal agents—a direct military confrontation against the federal government.
When a reporter asked about the prospect of National Guard troops facing off against federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Walz gave a chilling response: “We’ve never been at war with our federal government.”
Walz repeatedly suggested that President Donald Trump was effectively at war with him, saying state military force would be necessary to confront “rogue” federal agents.
“We do not need any further help from the federal government,” the governor declared. “To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. I’ve issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard. We have soldiers in training who are prepared to be deployed if necessary.”
Of course, Walz was far from alone in opposing immigration law. Governors like JB Pritzker of Illinois, or Gavin Newsom of California, or Tina Kotek of Oregon, openly say that immigration law should not be enforced in their jurisdictions. This has even plagued my home state of Colorado.
Make no mistake: Walz was threatening to oppose federal agents with his own military troops.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey added his own particular flourish. “To ICE: Get the f— out of Minneapolis,” he stated.
What Started This?
Walz and Frey had been responding to a shooting earlier Wednesday in which ICE agents fatally opened fire on a woman driving a vehicle. The Department of Homeland Security said the woman had been attempting to run over ICE agents “in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.” DHS claimed the ICE officer fired in self-defense.
While the full truth will require investigation, this explanation is plausible.
Federal agents have faced an unprecedented number of threats and attacks, coinciding with the Left demonizing the enforcement of immigration law.
Even in responding to the incident, Walz suggested that Trump’s attempts to enforce immigration law amount to “governing by reality TV.” He said the president’s “recklessness cost someone their life.”
Is it “reckless” to try to enforce the laws for which the American people voted? Is it “reckless” to try to deport illegal aliens when the American people elected Trump to do that?
It is far more reckless to suggest you would use state troops to violently oppose ICE on the streets.
Of course, were Walz to attempt to use the National Guard against federal agents, Trump could merely supersede his authority and take control of the Minnesota National Guard. Walz, who decided Monday not to seek reelection in the midst of a massive fraud scandal—remember that?—has no authority to turn his state’s militia into a neo-Confederate Army, much as he might like to.
No one expects Tim Walz to put on a uniform and lead troops into battle. The real danger comes in the rhetoric. Walz urged Minnesotans to take to the streets.
He repeatedly urged them to protest “peacefully,” but he laughably suggested those in Minneapolis protest “peacefully, as you always do.”
Let’s just say that if you think every Minneapolis protest in recent years has been peaceful, I’ve got a burning police station to sell you.
Trying to Nullify Sanity
Walz’s rhetoric blamed Trump’s attempt to enforce immigration law for violence and instability, flipping the truth on its head.
The truth is, Democrats have been trying to avoid immigration law for decades, and their nullification reached a fever pitch under President Joe Biden, who effectively opened the border and actually imported illegal aliens by the hundreds of thousands. Of course, since he didn’t change the law, this didn’t make the hordes of migrants entering our country legal, but it did create a crisis across the country.
President Trump proved that we didn’t need new laws to close the border—just a new president. But even though he won re-election on a mandate to deport the illegal aliens Biden allowed into the country, Trump has faced tremendous opposition from the Left from the beginning.
The same leftist groups that called the shots in the Biden administration sued to block his policies. Leftist protest networks organized agitators to oppose ICE on the ground.
Contrary to Walz’s suggestion, Trump’s belated response to the Biden immigration crisis isn’t the problem—the opposition to it is.
This opposition echoes the Confederate desire to nullify federal authority, and the more Democrats demonize Trump over this, the more “reckless” the Left’s shock troops will become.
