Anti-ICE riots reveal the left has learned nothing. It's just handed Trump a gift

Progressive groups' denunciations of the raids were even harsher. The ACLU called the enforcement plan an "oppressive and vile paramilitary operation," while a spokesperson for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network referred to the arrests as kidnappings.

As word of the campaign spread, the protests quickly devolved into riots. Social media feeds were soon filled with scenes reminiscent of the violent unrest of summer 2020: looting, crowds surrounding burning vehicles, rocks thrown at law-enforcement cars, American flags set aflame, and the 101 freeway shut down.

Even some of the president's critics who have called for an end to the violence seem motivated less by the belief that property destruction and assaults on police are wrong, and more by concerns that such unrest could bolster support for immigration enforcement or damage Democrats politically. 

Appalling as the Left's response to the riots has been, it is not surprising. The unrest only reinforces a connection many Americans have already made between progressive causes and the violence too often carried out in their name.

The chaos in L.A. follows the deadly and destructive riots that swept cities across the nation in 2020, as well as the more recent demonstrations sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Since that date, pro-Palestinian activists have harassed Jewish students on college and university campuses; shut down streets and transit hubs; set the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania's house on fire; shot and killed two Israeli embassy employees outside the Jewish Museum in D.C.; and hit elderly Jews peacefully marching in support of Israel with Molotov cocktails in Colorado.

Democrats face a real political problem. It's not hard to see how this most recent episode of "fiery, but mostly peaceful" protests could boost support for the president's immigration enforcement campaign- especially given that many of those wreaking havoc in L.A. are waving the Mexican flag or burning the flag of the country in which they demand illegal immigrants be allowed to stay.

Consider the contrast: on one side, an administration following through on the president's promise to strengthen immigration enforcement, in part to make cities safer; on the other, rioters waving foreign flags and setting streets ablaze. It's hard to imagine a more unsympathetic image for the president's critics.