The recent actions by the federal government for immigration enforcement in Los Angeles have provoked an appalling reaction from hardline criminal elements in society. Immigration and Customs Enforcement focused on illegal aliens who have committed some of the worst crimes imaginable.

There is nothing compassionate or progressive about making communities live with hardened criminals who have no legal right to be here.

And yet, the Democrats have run to their far-left base — just as they did with the so-called “Maryland family man” — and have woefully failed on basic law and order within Los Angeles.

Rather than condemn looters and rioters, they appear more concerned with shielding criminals than protecting the public.

Let’s be clear: The people who live, work and run businesses in downtown Los Angeles are often immigrants themselves. There is nothing about standing up for immigration rights in looting a sushi restaurant or smashing the windows of a family-run store. Stealing from an Apple shop to grab the latest iPhone isn’t civil disobedience, it’s opportunistic criminality, plain and simple.

There is nothing in our cherished First Amendment that says it’s acceptable to torch cars or destroy property. There is nothing liberal or progressive about igniting fires in a city still recovering from some of the most devastating wildfires in California’s history. And yet........

© Santa Clarita Valley Signal