My neighbors stood up to ICE. What they did next shows why California politics makes no sense

When ICE agents in full tactical gear descended on a beloved restaurant in my San Diego neighborhood last Friday evening and seized one of the workers, my neighbors did exactly what I would have expected: They raised holy hell.

A huge crowd gathered, booing. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents retreated as neighborhood residents screamed “Shame!” in unison. Videos of the scene quickly went viral.

“God bless the often mostly middle-aged and elderly, women confronting and shaming and sometimes even stopping ICE atrocities,” journalist Clara Jeffery wrote on Bluesky.

This triumphant moment of resistance is now being hailed by lawyers and activists across the country as a blueprint for how to push back against these brazen encroachments into communities.

Meanwhile, just days later and a few blocks away, an even larger crowd gathered in the neighborhood to target another potential enemy intrusion. Rather than winning social justice kudos, however, this protest demonstrated the often-infuriating incoherence of California progressive politics.

The invader in question?

Two proposed housing projects: One is a handful of large single-family homes abutting one of the canyons that snake through the neighborhood; the other is an eight-story, 180-unit apartment building located across the street from a charter school.

What unfolded at this second protest was a perfect distillation of how wealthy, largely white neighborhood groups across California that profess to value inclusion too often use their sway to ensure that their neighborhoods remain unattainable to anyone who doesn’t already live there.