Nothing says “America has your back” to allies abroad than daring rescue operations carried out on foreign soil. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the “successful rescue” of five Venezuelan dissidents in a “precise operation” of a coyly unspecified nature. The U.S. rescued the dissidents in a military operation, anonymous sources told the Argentinian paper Infobae.

The five dissidents ran the campaign for Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whom Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro banned from running in the 2024 election after she won the opposition primary. (Machado endorsed the replacement opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, who appears to have won a sizable majority of votes, even though Maduro had himself declared the winner anyway.)

The dissidents sought refuge inside the Argentinian embassy in Caracas after Maduro’s government issued warrants for their arrest in March 2024. Venezuela later broke off diplomatic relations with Argentina over Argentinian President Javier Milei’s refusal to endorse the fraudulent election results, thus forcing Argentina’s diplomatic staff to abandon the embassy.

But Maduro refused to allow the dissidents to leave with Argentina’s diplomats, forcing them to stay behind in the abandoned embassy — still considered sovereign Argentinian territory — which Argentina placed in the care of Brazil. Maduro revoked Brazil’s custody permission, but Brazil said it would continue to care for the embassy until Milei designated a more acceptable caretaker.

From this point on, the dissidents endured a “state of siege” in the embassy, said Adriana López, Machado’s representative in Argentina. The Maduro regime blocked nearby streets to cut the embassy off from the outside world. They shut off power and water for the past five months to the embassy, to induce the dissidents to give themselves up.

The harassment was partially successful. The group initially contained six people until one member, Fernando Martínez Mottola, left the embassy in December. Martínez was terminally ill and died of a stroke on February 26.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump assumed office, and someone in America (A SEAL team? Black ops? The CIA? Mercenaries?) began hatching an escape plan. Just three-and-a-half months later, this someone — or, more likely some multiple of people — saw a window of opportunity when Maduro flew to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin. Maduro arrived in Russia just in time to meet Rubio’s announcement of the daring operation’s success.

Without knowing any of the details, this sounds like an adventure movie that played out in real life. Perhaps instead of storycrafting another heist for “Oceans 37” or whatever number they’re up to, Hollywood can highlight some real-life, pro-America heroism: a rescue operation, not a crime.

Of course, before the details of the operation become known, let’s hope the same sly operatives can repeat the feat, rescuing other friends of freedom from the talons of totalitarian regimes. This should have dictators the world over panicking in their palaces.

Not all rescue operations must be so extraordinary. Simultaneous with its South American extraction, the U.S. government also conducted standard law enforcement operations that rescued more than 100 children.

Over five days, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested 205 sexual predators and rescued 115 children in a nationwide crackdown, involving “all 55 FBI field offices,” the DOJ announced Wednesday.

“Those arrested are alleged to have committed various crimes including the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material, online enticement and transportation of minors, and child sex trafficking,” the DOJ said in a press release. They then added details about several of the arrests:

• “In Minneapolis, for example, a state trooper and Army Reservist was arrested for allegedly producing child sexual abuse material while wearing his uniform.”
• “In Norfolk, VA, an illegal alien from Mexico is accused of transporting a minor across state lines for sex.”
• “In Washington, D.C., a former Metropolitan Police Department Police Officer was arrested for allegedly trafficking minor victims.”

“The Department of Justice will never stop fighting to protect victims — especially child victims,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We will not rest until we hunt down, arrest, and prosecute every child predator who preys on the most vulnerable among us.”

These activities are consistent with biblical expectations for the good use of authority. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord condemned wicked rulers — the “shepherds” of his people — who “have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep” (Ezekiel 34:8). The Lord then declared that “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep” (Ezekiel 34:15). He spelled out the contrast with the wicked rulers (Ezekiel 34:4), “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34:16).

In these recent rescues, the Trump administration has sought the lost, healed the injured, and strengthened the weak. The rescues send a clear message to America’s friends, “America has your back.” And behind that message, lies another, more fundamental point: America is back.