The decision to pull federal immigration agents from Minneapolis is not a policy adjustment. It is a surrender. Former Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who led the enforcement operation there, has called the withdrawal exactly that, and he is right. When the government retreats from enforcing immigration law because of political backlash, it tells the world that American sovereignty is negotiable and that those who violate our borders can outlast the agencies charged with removing them.
Bovino oversaw an operation that sent hundreds of federal personnel into the city to remove illegal aliens. He now says the mission did not go far enough, and he faces civil lawsuits from families of individuals killed during the enforcement effort.
Despite those legal pressures, he insists his agents were the true victims, subjected to unprecedented violence while carrying out a lawful mission. The administration's choice to abandon that mission after bipartisan criticism places political comfort above the rule of law.
The stakes are plain. A nation that cannot enforce its own immigration laws cannot claim to control its own territory. Every agent withdrawn sends a signal to migrants, smugglers, and resisters that enforcement is temporary and that resistance pays. Bovino's call for a "total spectrum" approach to mass deportations is not extremism; it is the logical requirement of a government that takes its own laws seriously. Those who choose to resist enforcement must face consequences, not be met with retreat.
This pattern of surrender extends beyond the border. California's Proposition 40 would impose a punitive 5 percent wealth tax on billionaires, driving job creators such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Peter Thiel, and Travis Kalanick out of the state. Even Governor Gavin Newsom worries the measure will chase away the taxpayers who fund essential services. When government punishes success and retreats from protecting economic liberty, it undermines the same order it claims to preserve.
The duty to enforce the law applies at the ballot box as well. The Justice Department has moved to block certification in Alaska's Senate race because a second candidate named Dan Sullivan threatens to confuse voters in a tight contest between Senator Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola. Associate Attorney General Stanley E.
Woodward Jr. has warned that certifying results under such conditions would fail the state's obligation to protect election integrity. A government that refuses to police its own elections invites the same chaos it refuses to police at the border.
Nor should we forget the violence that flourishes when authority retreats. In Jordan, terrorists stormed a church funeral in Karak, killing seven and wounding 34 before fleeing in a pickup truck. King Abdullah II has vowed the harshest penalties, while residents condemn a government they see as too soft on extremists. The lesson is universal: sovereignty means nothing if the state will not defend the peace, whether against illegal border crossers, ballot manipulators, or murderous extremists.
The administration should reverse course in Minneapolis and embrace the unwavering enforcement Bovino demands. National sovereignty, law and order, and accountable government require more than rhetoric. They require the courage to enforce the law without flinching—and the refusal to surrender.
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