Gary Bauer: History Is Repeating

After heated debates and in spite of overwhelming opposition from Democrats, laws have been passed by the federal government that states must obey. But there is growing outright defiance of these laws. Democrat governors are threatening to block enforcement of these laws.
 
There’s already been some violence, and it looks like there could be a lot more. The president and attorney general are furious. They’re warning these governors to either obey the laws of the United States or they will deploy the National Guard.
 
There’s outrage about that, too. Some claim the attorney general is not fully independent and does whatever the president orders.
 
You probably think I’m referring to the enforcement of federal immigration laws in Minnesota. Actually, I’m referring to events that happened 62 years ago when the country was moving toward racial integration. But racist Democrat governors and mayors openly defied the federal government.
 
The then-governor of Alabama, Democrat George Wallace, literally stood in the schoolhouse door and tried to block Black children from going to school. The then-governor of Arkansas, Democrat Orval Faubus, deployed National Guard troops to prevent Black children from entering Little Rock schools.
 
Everybody knew the “resistance” by Wallace and Faubus could not be tolerated. Once a federal law is passed and upheld by the Supreme Court, you must obey the law. If you don’t obey the law, then we’re back to the Civil War, which was fought over the idea that states could ignore the federal government.
 
Here we are in 2026, and history is repeating itself. Left-wing Democrat governors and mayors are defying federal law, the Supreme Court, and our constitutional order by claiming they can ignore federal immigration laws. They can’t.
 
It doesn’t matter what side of the immigration debate you’re on. The bottom line is that states cannot defy federal immigration laws. Democrat politicians and left-wing activists who actively oppose federal immigration enforcement are insurrectionists.
 
By the way, if each state can do what it wants regardless of what Congress passes and what the Supreme Court decides, then I will lead the effort for conservative states to open school days with prayer, to recognize marriage as one man and one woman, and to fully cooperate with federal immigration officials.
 
And the next time a Democrat is in the White House, Texas can shut its border and do whatever they have to do to stop illegal aliens from pouring in.