'Resist the Deadly Crusade'
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, on the Rule of Law in Sanctuary States, June 1837
Author’s note: Before reading, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the Remarks of Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina, on the reception of abolition petitions, delivered in the Senate of the United States, February 1837. Also see “The Sanctuary State Confederacy,” June 2025.
The economy of Los Angeles is maintained only by the very existence of the peculiar institutions of the Sanctuary State Confederacy. There are entire sectors of our economy that could not function without immigrant labor. Our policies were created for the protection of peace and safety for working families who do the jobs Americans won’t do, at low wages Americans will not accept.
And yet there is a systematic crusade designed to brand us as people who hate America. Our enemies say “illegal immigration” is noxious and criminal, that our workers must cross the border legally, refrain from crime, and become citizens before enjoying the benefits of citizenship.
We who represent the Sanctuary States against that deadly crusade are expected to sit in the violence of silence, hearing ourselves and our constituents denounced without uttering a word. If we say anything, we are charged with inciting a riot, as if we are seeking to aggravate the evil which we resist.
Every reflecting mind must see that this state of affairs is deeply and dangerously diseased.
But as widely as this incendiary spirit has spread, it has not yet infected the Los Angeles City Council, the California Legislature, or the greater and more intelligent Blue States. At the same time, if it is not stopped, it will spread until it brings the two great sections of the Union into deadly conflict. Indeed, the Trump administration is already waging war against our economy.
This is not new. Several years ago, in a discussion with one of the Senators from an Incarceration State, I predicted he would arouse the dormant spirit of legal immigration. I said that doctrine was tantamount to giving unlimited power to the Government, and that certain consequences would be inevitable.
People who believed illegal immigration was illegal would feel obligated to abolish it. The abolition movement would begin with that fanatical portion of society, and they would begin their operation on the ignorant, the weak, the young, and the thoughtless, and would gradually extend upwards till they would become strong enough to obtain political control. Four years later, all of that has happened.
They already call us the Wage-Slave States, but in a few more years they will be succeeded by those who will have been taught to hate us – the people and institutions of nearly one half of this Union – with a hatred more deadly than one hostile nation ever entertained towards another.
It is easy to see the end. By the necessary course of events, if left to themselves, we must become, finally, two people. Hate has no home here, but if the present causes are permitted to operate unchecked, it is impossible that we should continue under the same political system.
Legal Immigration and the Union cannot co-exist. As the friend of the Union I openly proclaim it, and the sooner it is known the better. The border is under control now, but in a short time it will be beyond our power to reopen it. Still, we of the Sanctuary States will not, cannot surrender our institutions or our economy, both of which require an open border and the low wages it allows. This system cannot be subverted without drenching the country in blood. Be it good or bad, it has grown up with our society and institutions, and is so interwoven with them, that to destroy it would be to destroy us as a people.
But let me not be understood. I do not admit, even by implication, that our existing relations between low-wage migrant workers and citizen consumers is an evil. To the contrary, it is a moral good and will continue if not disturbed by the spirit of abolition. I appeal to facts. Never before – from the dawn of history to the present day – has the migrant worker attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually. They came to us in a low, degraded, and savage condition. Oppressed by economic privation, war, and religious strife in their own countries, in the course of a few generations they have grown up under the fostering care of our institutions – as reviled as they have been – to their present comparative civilized condition. This, with the rapid increase in migration under Democrats, is conclusive proof of the general happiness of the migrant races in spite of all the exaggerated tales to the contrary.
In the meantime, the white or European race has not degenerated. Theories of “reverse discrimination” and “white replacement” are just that – conspiracy theories. Wypipo have kept pace in other sections of the Union where Sanctuary does not exist. It is odious to make comparison, but I appeal to fine people on all sides whether Los Angeles is not equal in virtue, intelligence, patriotism, courage, and all the high qualities of humanity. Have we not contributed our full share of taxes, talents, and political wisdom in forming and sustaining this political fabric? Do we not cling constantly to the side of Constitutional liberty? Have we not been the first to see and first to resist the encroachments of kings?
Nevertheless, the Blue States are inferior in one way: we pay more federal taxes than the Red States of this Union because Congress extracts more and spends less among us. But when they go low, I go high. I hold that in our present civilization, where races of different colors are brought together in a Sanctuary State, the racial and economic diversity is a positive force for good and not for evil.
I feel compelled to demand my freedom of speech, and hold that there has never existed a wealthy and civilized society where one community did not benefit from the labor of another. This is fully borne out by history, and our Sanctuary States grudgingly accept that some communities work harder and non-producing communities receive a larger share of the wealth. In ancient times, this diversity was acquired by brute force or gross superstition. Today we employ more artful fiscal contrivances, like living-wage legislation, health care for all, or free university tuition.
I fearlessly assert that the existing relation between the races in Los Angeles, against which these blind fanatics are waging war, forms the most solid and durable foundation on which to rear free and stable political institutions. It is useless to disguise the fact. In countries with advanced wealth and civilization there is (and always has been) a conflict between labor and capital. Los Angeles is part of the fourth-largest economy on earth, and this exempts us from the disorders and dangers resulting from that societal conflict. And this explains why the political condition of the Sanctuary States has been so much more stable and quiet than that of the Red States.
Surrounded as the Sanctuary States are with such imminent perils, I rejoice to think that our means of defense are ample, if we prove to have the intelligence and spirit to see and apply them before it is too late. All we want is to lay aside all party differences, and unite with zeal and energy in repelling approaching dangers. Let there be unity of action, and we shall find ample means of security without resorting to secession or disunion.
If we do not defend ourselves none will defend us. First they came for the immigrants. Then they took down our Latino senator. If we yield now we will be more and more oppressed as we recede. If we submit we will be trampled under foot.
Enforced immigration laws and voter ID would not satisfy the fanatics – that gained, the next step would be to raise legal immigrant laborers to the status of legal citizens instead of second-class residents. If that ever occurs, the Red States will be the masters, and Blue States the slaves.
I speak with full knowledge and a thorough examination of the subject, and for one see my way clearly. There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives. Pallets of bricks, face shields, and fireworks have been distributed. Get thee to the barricades.