So a woman thinks slapping a little “safe space from ICE” symbol on her door makes her a hero — let her keep dreaming. What she’s really advertising is a tip line to federal prosecutors and a potential criminal charge for harboring aliens; federal law makes clear that concealing or harboring someone who is unlawfully in the country is a crime.

This isn’t petty moralizing, it’s statutory reality: 8 U.S.C. 1324 and federal prosecutorial guidance spell out prison and fine penalties for bringing in, transporting, concealing, or harboring unauthorized aliens, with enhanced sentences for aggravated circumstances. Ordinary citizens playing at civil disobedience should understand they could be exposing themselves to felony charges measured per person sheltered.

And nobody should pretend social media is a private confessional where the rules don’t apply — law enforcement routinely uses publicly available online information to develop investigations and verify leads. Federal and local agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, use social media to corroborate identities, locations, and relationships, so those cute door signs and viral videos are not invisible.

Meanwhile, on the left there’s political theater of passing “safe space from ICE” proclamations and bills that tie the hands of enforcement while pretending to protect communities. Some state-level proposals have explicitly sought to carve out protections from ICE actions in certain places, a posture that sounds compassionate until taxpayers and victims feel the consequences of lawlessness.

Let’s be blunt: there is a difference between charity and criminality. Americans who want to help immigrants do so by supporting legal pathways, donating to vetted charities, and pushing for border security and sensible immigration reform — not by turning their homes into hideouts that undermine the rule of law. The reckless virtue-signaling we see online only incentivizes more illegal entry and fuels the very crisis conservatives have been warning about for years.

Patriots should also stop pretending enforcement is some kind of villainous overreach when it’s the only tool left to restore order after decades of political cowardice. If you truly care about families and public safety, back officers doing a hard job, demand Congress fix the broken system, and stop glamorizing conduct that can get you locked up. The hard truth is that law and order protect the vulnerable far more than slogans do.

So go ahead and tape whatever sign you want to your door — but don’t be surprised when the cameras and subpoenas start showing up. Words on cardboard don’t rewrite statutes, and videos of your “safe space” are exactly the sort of evidence prosecutors and investigators will use when someone crosses the line from compassion into criminality.