CALIFORNIA National Guard in Los Angeles (Wikipedia).

It’s easy to be philosophical about things happening to other people far away.
It’s when they come to your doorstep that things “get real.”

I’m thinking, of course, of the events emanating from Washington, D.C, the historic “crackdown” on illegal immigration.

Although I’m not aware of any news events that have – as of this writing – taken place in Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Stanton or Westminster, the evidence of the echo of a program to rid the nation of as many as 12 million people is all around.

In Los Alamitos, located west of West Garden Grove, is the Joint Forces Training Base. That’s what California National Guard troops have been using as their staging area and there maybe more on the way.

To our east in Santa Ana, ICE agents are being “supported” by National Guard soldiers.

Protests of the president’s recent actions and of this unprecedented turn of events are scheduled today (Saturday) in Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo.

I used to be based out of the JFTB in Los Al and we helped train Guardsmen (Guardswomen?) in riot control. I remember the phalanxes of soldiers with their shields and batons advancing in slow, boot-slapping steps to the accompanying command of “back!”

They’ll never have to use this, I told myself.

Saturday is, interestingly enough, Flag Day. It’s supposed to be the day to treasure the Stars and Stripes as a symbol of freedom, equality and unity.
But it’s not going to be a day of unity. The immigration “crisis” has been building for decades. Neither major party has had the courage to address it thoughtfully.

One party didn’t want to alienate a constituency; the other party didn’t want to force businesses to shed low-pay employees who helped feed the profits.
Now we are reaping the “whirlwind,” as it says in Hosea 8:7, and no one can predict how all of this is going to turn out.