Who Are "We the People"?

In Grim's discussion of ICE Watch earlier this week he brought up the question of popular sovereignty:

What the government at all levels ought to take time to consider is how deeply the sovereign citizenry is rejecting this in at least some localities. I don't know or claim to know just what that means; perhaps we should, as we have often discussed, divide the nation in some way to allow the divergent political views space. Nevertheless, citizens are allowed to diverge in their opinions. Nobody has the right to use main force to compel Americans to abide by their preferred ideas about how we should be governed.

My question here is, which citizenry is relevant to the situation at hand? In our federal system, some powers are given to the federal government, in which case the relevant citizenry is all American citizens. These actions affect us all, so we should all have a say. Other powers are reserved to the states, in which case the relevant citizenry is the citizens of the respective states, and the citizens of other states should keep their noses out of it. Immigration belongs to the federal powers and we all have a stake in it, so the relevant sovereignty rests with the people of the nation.

Why? There are two main reasons. First, that is the system we have agreed to as a nation. If this agreement isn't acceptable to some, then they should work to change it. That is enough, but, second, as it stands, illegal aliens are counted in the census and count for apportionment for the House and Electoral College. This means that if some states cooperate with ICE and the illegal aliens there are deported while other states refuse to cooperate and keep their illegals, those latter states gain real advantages in the federal government. This would punish law-abiding states and reward law-breaking states. That is why immigration is a federal issue and the proper level of sovereignty is the American people as a whole, not the people of an individual state, much less an individual city. 

In 2024 the citizens of the United States expressed their will on federal matters by electing Trump and giving a majority in the House and Senate to Republicans. Trump ran heavily on enforcing federal immigration laws. This is the will of the relevant citizens. Sovereignty, in the end, means the exercise of power, or, as Obama said, elections have consequences. Being part of the sovereign citizenry in the Republic means accepting that, not obstructing it.

Protest is a right. I have exercised that right lawfully as have millions of others. However, while it takes cover among legitimate protesters, the mass, organized obstruction of immigration enforcement happening in Minneapolis is not a lawful protest and it is not an expression of the will of the people. It is obstruction of the will of the people and a rejection of the sovereignty of the people as properly expressed in the 2024 elections. These obstructors are petty tyrants who will be more than happy to tyrannize us all if they get the chance.