My family gave me a simple rule long before I knew philosophers had spent centuries arguing over morality: say what you’ll do, do what you say, and admit it when you’re wrong.
No clever theory could rescue you from a broken promise while character appeared in the choice you made when the easier path was open.
America has grown skilled at explaining away the obvious. We watch disorder spread, then debate whether restoring order might hurt someone’s feelings; we praise courage in speeches while teaching people to remain seated, stay silent, and hope somebody else takes the risk.
Maybe we haven’t forgotten courage; perhaps we’ve decided courage costs too much because it can cost a friendship, a job, a reputation, or years in court. People fear the judgment of strangers with cameras and employers willing to punish a moment of conviction.
Silence gets renamed prudence, and surrender gets dressed up as tolerance; integrity only counts when it carries a price, and the question facing us is whether we still have enough character to pay for it.
Joe Biden’s border disaster left President Donald Trump with a national repair job. Federal data show about 8.7 million southwest border encounters during fiscal years 2021 through 2024. Encounters aren’t the same as unique people admitted, but the scale reveals how thoroughly control was lost.
Federal auditors also found that agents released over 67,000 migrants per month on their own recognizance during much of fiscal 2023, rising above 71,000 per month in fiscal 2024.
Trump was elected to reverse that failure. By early 2026, southwest apprehensions had fallen to record lows, nationwide encounters were down 92% from the Biden-era monthly average, and the government had recorded nine straight months with no releases at the southern border.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries calls current enforcement brutal. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) portrays federal agents as a force terrorizing communities. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has described ICE as out of control. From Schiff’s office:
“These events underscore the urgent need for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General to conduct an expeditious review of ICE’s and Customs and Border Protection’s brutal tactics and share its findings with Congress and the public as soon as possible,” wrote the lawmakers.
On January 8, 2026, OIG announced a new audit “to determine whether ICE investigates allegations of excessive use of force and holds personnel accountable” consistent with federal law and DHS and ICE policies. The OIG has also initiated five other audits into DHS’s practices, including DHS processes for determining U.S. citizenship during enforcement operations and CBP interior enforcement.
But OIG audits typically take over a year to complete, even as ICE continues to cause severe harm on the ground. Given the urgency — and the growing risk to public safety and civil rights — the lawmakers urged OIG to expedite its audit, provide interim briefings and preliminary findings to Congress, and use escalation tools — including Management Alerts and 7-day letters — if ICE refuses to comply with OIG’s data access requests.
Their language turns officers enforcing federal law into villains while illegal presence becomes the condition everyone else must accommodate.
A small, loud political movement can bend instructions when everyone else fears the fight. The transgender activist machine proved the method. Find a narrow cause, declare every objection immoral, capture schools and professional groups, and then punish anyone who resists.
Immigration activists now use the same pressure against borders, detention, and deportation.
The noise has consequences. On July 20, Andrew Arrabaca set a fire at the entrance of 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, launched fireworks, and fired a pellet gun. Three people suffered minor injuries.
Federal prosecutors charged him with arson, and investigators found an anti-ICE sign with his weapons and supplies.
Ordinary people face another test when the government fails to keep order. Daniel Penny stepped forward on a New York subway after Jordan Neely threatened riders. Neely died after Penny restrained him, and Penny faced a manslaughter charge carrying up to 15 years. A jury later acquitted him of the remaining criminally negligent homicide charge.
After being acquitted of homicide, the military veteran who choked a volatile, mentally ill man on a New York subway told an interviewer he put himself in a “very vulnerable position” but felt compelled to act.
“I’ll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me, just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed,” Daniel Penny told Fox News in a clip that aired Tuesday, a day after the verdict.
Meanwhile, scores of New Yorkers protested the trial outcome, holding signs and chanting Jordan Neely’s name in a Manhattan square Tuesday evening.
“Yes, he was acting erratically. But personally, I don’t believe being mentally unwell and being homeless is a crime worthy of death,” said one of the organizers, Sean Blackmon.
An anonymous Manhattan jury cleared Penny of a criminally negligent homicide charge in the death of Neely, 30. The jury had deadlocked last week on a more serious manslaughter charge, which was dismissed.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and every Republican in Congress now face their own choice; holding power means using it. Press conferences and polished statements won’t secure the country, protect officers, or give Trump the laws and resources required to finish the work.
Thune agrees with the goal, but agreement without backbone leaves the burden on somebody else.
The federal election arrives Nov. 3. Voters can reward backbone or return power to people determined to obstruct enforcement.
Repair won’t be quick or painless; America is in a bootstrap moment, where doing the right thing requires grit, patience, courage, and a willingness to accept ridicule, risk, and cost.
We already know the right path, but the remaining question is whether we still have the character to take it.
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