As the Trump administration cracks down on immigration, several Democratic cities are intensifying their resistance, limiting local cooperation with federal forces, launching lawsuits, and publicly protesting in sometimes violent ways. Tension is soaring as ice agents use heavier-handed tactics and leftists, using the modern megaphone of social media, respond as though law enforcement is a modern gestapo.

• Yesterday, Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency in response to ice’s aggressive arrest operations. Mayor Karen Bass has criticized raids for “destabilizing” the community and the economy and has rallied with protesters.

• Chicago has had several turbulent clashes between ice agents and residents in recent days. Chief judge Timothy Evans barred civil ice arrests at Cook County courts yesterday. Protests disrupted O’Hare Airport.

• New York City councilmember Tiffany Cabán doubled down on her October 9 bill to bar ice from city jails, prompting the Trump administration to threaten funding cuts if Zohran Mamdani, who wants to “abolish ice,” wins upcoming elections.

• Yesterday, the city council in Portland, Oregon, advanced the Protect Portland Initiative, empowering police to document and sue ice agents for violations. Portland has experienced over 100 days of protests with rocks and incendiaries.

America is experiencing the collision of two opposing approaches to law: one that feels responsible to enforce it, the other that is fundamentally lawless.

• For years, the latter approach has been dominant, so officials looked the other way as illegal immigrants flowed into the country, streets filled with drugged-out zombies, and mobs destroyed public property in supposed pursuit of “social justice.”

• With an administration now in power that upholds law, it faces an uphill battle, fighting not only increased criminality but also increased defiance to legitimate policing.

The Bible is clear that people should be subject to authorities (e.g. Romans 13:1-5; 1 Peter 2:13-14). The surge in “sanctuary cities,” violent civil disobedience and other resistance is a curse on America. Beyond that, it is a sign of the growing influence of the author of lawlessness (John 8:44; 1 John 3:8).