When People Become Pawns: How Politicians Are Fueling Chaos and Undermining U.S. Law
Two Americans, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, have now lost their lives because ordinary Americans were pushed, trained, and encouraged to confront federal law enforcement officers. This is a tragedy that cuts across every line. No matter where someone stands on immigration, no one should be dying because political leaders have created an environment where attacking ICE is portrayed as righteous, heroic, or necessary.
For generations, America has debated immigration. But what is happening today is fundamentally different, not a policy disagreement, but a deliberate strategy in which political actors use human beings as sacrificial pawns to advance their goals. The result is a system that rewards lawlessness, punishes enforcement, and destabilizes communities across the country.
At the center of this crisis is a simple truth: it is illegal to impede a federal law enforcement operation. Yet highly organized networks of activists, agitators, and political leaders are doing exactly that, openly obstructing immigration enforcement while claiming moral superiority. The consequences are severe, and the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore.
ICE officers attempting to arrest criminal offenders in sanctuary cities face coordinated resistance:
Activists block streets
Groups monitor ICE movements and alert targets
Local officials refuse to cooperate with federal warrants
Organized agitators physically interfere with arrests and attack ICE agents
This is not peaceful protest. This is organized obstruction of federal law, which is illegal and a form of urban guerrilla warfare, designed to overwhelm law enforcement and create chaos. The people encouraged to participate in these actions are often the ones who suffer most, arrested, injured while used as political pawns by the Democrats who don’t seem to care if lives are sacrificed for their cause.
During the Obama administration, immigration enforcement was not only tolerated, but it was also celebrated.
The Obama administration deported over 3 million individuals, one of the highest totals in modern history and most had no criminal history
ICE Director Tom Homan was awarded The Presidential Award for Distinguished Service by President Obama for his leadership in enforcing immigration law.
At the time, the political left did not accuse Obama of cruelty, fascism, or racism. They did not mobilize mobs to block ICE facilities. They did not call deportation “inhumane.” Enforcement was considered a normal function of government.
So, what changed? Not the law. Not the Constitution. Only the political narrative.
Once immigration became a tool for political leverage, the same actions once praised became demonized. Enforcement officers who were honored under Obama became villains under a new narrative that treats any attempt to uphold federal law as an act of oppression.
The truth is not complicated: If the law were enforced the way it was under previous administrations including Obama’s, much of this chaos would not exist.
The question now is whether the country will return to the rule of law or continue down a path of chaos and needless injuries and deaths and that is up to the political leaders that are allowed to keep encouraging the mayhem to continue. Someone, please! Hold them accountable!
Carol Pefley
Candidate for Ca State Assembly
