U.S. Still Welcomes Legal Immigrants With Merit

Where ICE is locked out of schools, cartels control neighborhoods, and American law no longer applies.

As Trump calls for the National Guard to the L.A. ICE protests, L.A. spirals into chaos. Anchor-baby funding scams, fentanyl flows and foreign flags fly where U.S. sovereignty used to stand. This isn't immigration. It's surrender.

I just returned from Italy. Stunning country. Culture, history, architecture — it's everything. But I followed their laws.

You break their border laws, they throw you out. And rightly so. Yet in America — our laws, our borders — are being violated daily without consequence. Why?

Because we've become a nation pretending that illegal is legal. An estimated 20 million undocumented people live here — though some sources, like Pew and DHS, report 11 million–12 million, while independent academic studies (including Yale/MIT) place the number as high as 16 million to 29 million.

That's not immigration — it's invasion.

And while legal immigrants jump through hoops — paying $3,000 in USCIS fees, medical exams, interviews, background checks — they watch rule-breakers waltz in and receive the same benefits without paying a dime or pledging loyalty.

Cost? Start with the economic: The Congressional Budget Office projects 8.7 million unlawful immigrants entering from 2021 to 2026 will cost $1.15 trillion over their lifetimes — nearly equal to Social Security and larger than the entire defense budget. That's taxpayer money diverted into schools, healthcare, welfare — while our veterans wait.

Mass deportation? It would cost $315 billion upfront — $89 billion to arrest, $168 billion to detain, $34 billion for legal — then $88 billion annually for 10 years. So we pay either way — apologists don't have a plan.

Just as we're addressing the abuse of our economy and budget, we're also grappling with the overwhelming influx of illegal immigration. Naturally, this is causing chaos.

And now, real chaos. In the past 72 hours, Los Angeles has seen more than 45 arrests tied to violent protests targeting ICE operations. Protesters hurled bottles and rocks, swarmed enforcement vehicles, and shut down intersections.

At least three officers and five civilians have been hospitalized. In one viral video, ICE officers were forced to retreat as mobs waving foreign flags surrounded their SUV and pounded the glass.

This is not peaceful protest. This is criminal resistance to federal law — and a preview of what's to come when national sovereignty is treated as optional.

What about security? Fentanyl pours in across the border every day. Cartels smuggle people and drugs. In Los Angeles, MS-13 and foreign-run grow operations now dominate entire neighborhoods.

Schools and hospitals in L.A. are walled off from federal enforcement — even ICE agents on welfare checks are blocked. All because school districts depend on anchor-baby revenue tied to sanctuary policies.

We say we're a nation of immigrants — but only if you do it legally. Skilled, educated, lawful immigrants pay fees, pledge loyalty, pass background checks. They go through the system.

They don't break laws. They don't bring drug cartels, sex traffic, risk terrorism or disease. They don't refuse to fly our flag.

Which brings up another point: why are people waving Mexican flags at U.S. protests and not American flags? Why are people throwing rocks? Why are they burning cars? Because many of them are the criminals we're actually worried about.

These aren't the diehard Americans coming here to contribute. They're illegal takers who didn't want to go through the hard work of earning the ability to be in this country — and they all have to go.

Justice can't be discretionary. It just has to be justice. If it becomes discretionary, everything falls apart.

And we don't do that for the minority. We are a collective group of Americans who care about security and consider the right of the American dream to be the greatest privilege in history.

They do it to signal tribal allegiance — not unity under our laws. It's a rejection of American sovereignty and a refusal to assimilate. In Los Angeles, protests against ICE raids feature Mexican, Honduran, and Salvadoran flags exclusively. Where's the red, white, and blue? Why isn't it a blend of flags?

They say it's pride or solidarity — "This is how we show we matter." But optics aren't just optics. They shape identity. Flying another flag in American civic spaces is a statement: "We're still outsiders." It's strategic — and divisive.

Look at France. After decades of uncontrolled immigration — particularly from Muslim-majority countries — no-go zones have appeared in its cities. Entire districts where French law isn't enforced and Western values are mocked.

That's the consequence of importing people who don't integrate and refuse to swallow the narratives of secularism, gender equality and tolerance.

We're racing down that same path, only with weaker institutions and zero will to resist. Here, we say it's xenophobic to demand assimilation. We criminalize anyone who notices rising crime in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods or points out the literal state takeover by foreign gang factions.

We cancel dissent — but congratulations to them, because you cannot build a nation with no borders, no loyalty and no law.

Let that sink in: legal immigration is a sacrifice. It costs in time, money, vetting.

Illegal immigration costs the country $1 trillion-plus, fuels drug cartels, kidnappings, human trafficking — and deliberately rejects assimilation. No shock that criminals cross unvetted — crowds at the border include violent gang members and foreign nationals.

This is an amazing country where everyone's soul has the same merit and weight of a feather. No one is better than anyone else in America — and that's very rare. You don't get to steal it illegally.

But if you want to come in and earn it through merit and legality, we love you and we welcome you. That's America.

But if you can't?

Then you're just going to have to get out.

We've got a country to save.

Host of "Unapologetic with Judd Dunning" on KABC AM 790, Judd Dunning, is a political author, host, pundit and producer. He has created and hosted a multitude of political media projects. Judd is a Newsmax regular guest commentator. As an author, he wrote the bestselling Humanix/Newsmax Book "13½ Reasons Why NOT To Be A Liberal: And How to Enlighten Others." He's presently in the production of his next book, "13½ Reasons to Love America: How to Stop the Angry Woke Left and Preserve the America We Love." He is represented by Karen Gantz Literary Management (www.karengantzliterarymanagement.com) and for radio & Public relations by Sandy Frazier (www.SandyPundits.com) — More Here.