This is Pastor Tim’s article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Tuesday, June 17 2025
The city of Los Angeles is currently coming apart. There is widespread destruction and mayhem and it has allegedly been because of the enforcement of immigration law. Allegedly, the people there are unhappy that ICE is cracking down on people who are not in the country legally. Why do I keep saying allegedly? I will get to that.
When it comes to immigration enforcement, there are many different schools of thought. My perspective is either we have a country with boundaries or we don’t have a country. Being in the United States brings with it wonderful rights and privileges and there needs to be some expectations as to who is the beneficiary of those rights and privileges.
But for purposes of this article, I don’t want to discuss whether or not there should be a border. Today I have a question about what I see happening in Los Angeles that I sincerely do not understand. What is being reported is there is widespread destruction and mayhem and life disruption for the people of LA because of people being deported. While I fully support people having any opinion on this issue whether I agree with it or not, the destruction that is happening there is illegal and something needs to be done to stop it.
This is why I said allegedly. Many of the so-called protesters are waving Mexican flags while burning American flags. I do not understand this at all. People are rioting, looting and burning to protest being removed from this country because of their legal status. So, in the process of protesting deportation, they are waiving the flag of the country they do not want to return to while burning the flag of the country they do not want to leave.
Does this make any sense? What lesson am I to take from these actions being taken? Let me give you a scenario. This would be like me deciding that high school football should be illegal because it is too violent and too many kids are getting hurt. But in order to protest the existence of high school football, I go to the stadium at Memorial High School some Friday night in the fall and start setting fire to cars while waving a Celina flag. What I am doing does not support what I am saying. That is exactly how I feel about these so-called riots. What they are doing is not matching up with what they are claiming.
Not that I want to give rioters any advice, but committing felonies and endangering citizens is not the way to endear yourself to the country you claim to want to continue occupying. You add to that pallets of bricks have been placed around the city for people to conveniently throw and someone is creating a lot of Molotov cocktails and I suddenly begin to suspect something else is going on here.
I am not well connected enough to say for sure what is happening, I just know I don’t want to live in a country where this kind of stuff is just accepted. People are mad so they get to burn stuff with no consequences? I reject the premise. Speak your mind, do it forcefully, I am in full support of that. But burning other people’s property and throwing bricks without caring who gets hit in the head with it is wrong.
Do not accept that this is just life today. I reject it completely. We are a society with rules, laws and boundaries and if we just allow major American cities to get swept away like this and our only response is “aw shucks” then we have lost the argument. We do not excuse felonies because you are angry, that is not how this works. Whatever misguided message this incident in LA is trying to express, it should be rejected on a local, state and national level.