Reckless disregard for public safety, shocking disrespect for law enforcement, and a fundamental misunderstanding – promoted by those ready to incite violence – are all rising. They must stop.
Republics do not survive when the rule of law breaks down. As a former Assistant Secretary of State managing billions in law enforcement and counter-narcotics programs around the world, in countries from Iraq and Afghanistan to this hemisphere, lawlessness ends in civic disintegration.
In the US, we are seeing an unprecedented spike – something not seen in the US – in fatal ambushes and attacks on local, state, and federal law enforcement. The numbers are shocking.
In 2021, 73 officers were intentionally killed. In 2023, 138 officers were shot. In 2025, America saw over 60 officers shot, with the “overall rate of assaults” hitting 79,000 incidents in 2023. This is not normal.
Now, fast forward to 2026, with agitators – paid and unpaid – literally swarming, stalking, doxing, threatening, and attacking ICE and other federal agents in Minnesota, Maine, and other locations.
While these mass agitations, actual and threatened violence, against every level of law enforcement ended tragically in Minneapolis, the incidents span the country.
ICE, CBP, State, and local police continue to track, arrest, detain, and deport some 19 million illegal aliens in the country – millions flooding during Biden’s Open Border. The targets for deportation are aliens with deportation orders, administrative warrants, criminal records here, and in their origin countries.
The wild activism on the other side, sudden declarations of sanctuary – meaning pro-criminal – policies in states like Maine, despite constitutional processes being followed, is dangerous.
Even after seeing violence in Minnesota, which shares with Maine Medicaid fraud tied to minority communities, Maine activists – and national ones imported – are distributing pamphlets saying, “You have the right to protect yourself, ICE has proven that they will kill you …”
Testing the limits of constitutional free speech, which end at specific incitements to violence, leftists in the Democrat Party push the narrative and seem intent on provoking violence. This is utterly reckless; it is the opposite of leadership. Yet Democrat pols persist, either cheer or stay silent.
Predicting the future is impossible, but trends are toward more violence – if leftist leaders in the Democrat Party do not settle down. Summer 2026 could be a flashpoint, as past summers have been.
Perhaps the saddest part is that, by and large, most Americans want criminal aliens out, law enforcement to cooperate, no sanctuary states or cities, and responsible leadership. They are not getting it from the radicals who are presently stirring Minnesota, Maine, and other blue states.
If unaddressed, lawlessness becomes a force unto itself, turmoil rising, as in foreign countries. These incidents could easily expand to chaos parallelling riots in 200 cities in 2021 or the 1960s.
Fundamentally, no republic can survive without law enforcement. Any society that promotes criminal activity, indulges criminals at the expense of citizens, gets more crime. As drug trafficking, violent, and property crime expand, fear rises. The time to stop this is now, through responsible support for federal, state, and local police. Anti-law enforcement incitement is, bluntly, criminal.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
