Vienna, Austria—The following opinion piece contains the reflections provided by George Bottorff, Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, retired. He compares the 1992 riots and the 2025 immigration protests in Los Angeles and shares his experience and observations. George is a California UOCAVA voter, a resident of Austria, and a Member of the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families Caucus.
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For many VMF Caucus members, especially the younger ones and perhaps even those who were living abroad at the time, they may not remember the Los Angeles riots from thirty years ago. But make no mistake, the period of 1992-93 was a dark time in our nation’s history, and heightened race relations led to civil unrest and violence.
In 1992, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, located in Southern California. Among my then-duties was administratively assisting the helicopter pilots who would be assisting the Los Angeles Police Department in the wake of the brutal police beating of Rodney King, an African American man.
With actual video footage of Rodney King having been viciously beaten for fifteen straight minutes, Americans all across the country were shocked by the overly aggressive police response, and again, jaws dropped at the police officers’ “not guilty” verdict. More recently, President Trump has been attempting to fulfill a campaign promise of halting the “invasion” of immigrants to the U.S. and deporting them through enforcement using the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, previously known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
The difference between 1992 and what’s happening in 2025 is that the 1992 riots spread all over Los Angeles; thus, the affected area was roughly 500 square miles. The present situation is centered around a couple of city blocks. It’s essential to recognize that the LAPD has over 8,000 police officers, and I believe that both California’s Governor and the Mayor of Los Angeles know when they would need more people to handle the immigration protesters. With President Trump sending 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to conduct policing activities, what we have now is a massive overkill of armed and trained military resources occupying our communities alongside ICE agents and the LAPD. This is akin to swinging a sledgehammer to shoo away a mosquito. Without the necessary guidance of senior White House officials to convince the president of this clear wrongdoing, I am afraid this scenario will not end well.
Why is the president doing this? One must remember we are dealing with a conman. Is it that he is trying to direct our attention to California and away from Washington, where the One Big Ugly Bill is up for consideration in the Senate? Every single U.S. voter, both stateside and abroad, needs to keep their attention on the One Big Ugly Bill and its impact on all Americans, especially veterans. Not to exaggerate, but it’s clear Donald Trump has demonstrated that he will say literally anything to drum up support from his most hardcore right-wing supporters and campaign donors. This is the same individual who outright promised that a “big, beautiful wall” would be built across the whole southern border, and Mexico will pay for it, among countless other lies sold to the American people.
There is so much happening within the month of June that the president could and should focus on. The president needs to halt his anti-immigrant assault in Los Angeles and instead be a leader on other matters that unite our citizenry. For example, he could be addressing:
- Flag Day on June 14th, a day to unite Americans of the common values which make our communities strong, is also the same day the Continental Army was established before our nation headed to war against England.
- A celebration of our nation’s abolishment of slavery and joining in honoring distinguished African Americans on Juneteenth, or
- the deserved recognition of the civil rights and vast contributions of America’s LGBT community, just to name a few.
In 1992, when I was serving in uniform, I heard a story worth repeating given today’s context. In short, two Marines were assigned to ride around with a local police officer. The officer was called to check out a possible break-in at a liquor store. Upon arriving at the scene, the officer exited the police car and relayed to the two Marines to cover him. Well, 120 rounds later, there is a 9-1-1 call from the liquor store to let them know “they’re shooting at me!”
Veterans know more than most that there are different action/tactical terms used by different organizations. To a police officer, “cover me” generally means to point your weapon in the direction of the potential threat. But to a Marine, the same phrase means to lay down covering fire so that the threat keeps their head down. Meaning, one perspective is a situation involving civil disturbance, while the other is for engaging in combat. Clearly, this is a huge difference and potentially life-ending for some bystanders.
I don’t know how the current situation will end regarding the president’s illegal crackdown on peaceful protesters. What I do know is that our democracy includes constitutional checks and balances and, in this case, Congress has the authority and obligation to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. At no point in my years on this earth has it ever been acceptable to manhandle a sitting United States Senator. We’re all exhausted by this Administration’s incompetence, lying, misdirection, and so forth, so I’ll close by urging all Americans to notify your lawmakers of this absolutely unacceptable and unprecedented misbehavior by the federal government.
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U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check your voter registration status and request your ballot for any upcoming elections in your home voting state that you are eligible to vote in.
The VMF Caucus, proudly consisting of veterans, military family members, and strong allies of veterans and military family causes, has a membership of approximately 1,300 members located in dozens of countries.
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