ARGUMENT: THE MILITARY & IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENTThe Mounting Crisis of Militarizing Immigration Enforcement
President Donald Trump has federalized 2,000 California National Guard troops to quell immigration protests pursuant to an obscure provision in federal law–10 USC §12406–which has not been used since 1970, when President Richard Nixon federalized the Guard to deliver mail during a postal strike. William Banks and Mark Nevitt write that “the last time the National Guard was federalized over a governor’s objection was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed the Guard to Selma, Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.”
On 7 June, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum federalizing 2,000 California National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in and around Los Angeles pursuant to an obscure provision in federal law–10 USC §12406–which has not been used since 1970, when President Richard Nixon federalized the Guard to deliver mail during a postal strike.
And, William Banks and Mark Nevitt write in Just Security, the last time the National Guard was federalized over a governor’s objection was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed the Guard to Selma, Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.
They write:
The law allows federalization of National Guard forces if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” Although the deployed military force may protect federal officers enforcing immigration law in Los Angeles, the federalized Guard is, like any federal military force, subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits federal troops from being directly involved in domestic law enforcement. In Los Angeles, that means Guard troops are unable to conduct immigration raids, detain persons or make arrests, or in any way engage in direct law enforcement.
California Governor Gavin Newsom objected to Trump’s deployment of the Guard, calling it “purposefully inflammatory” and adding that it “will only escalate tensions… [and] erode public trust.” After two days of stepped-up ICE raids in the Los Angeles area, including at a Home Depot parking lot in Paramount, California, demonstrations followed but local officials did not indicate that they needed federal assistance. The White House offered its own version of events. On Saturday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described “violent mobs” and stated that the deployed troops would “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.” By June 10, the White House had deployed 700 active-duty Marines and doubled the number of National Guard troops to 4,000. Trump also escalated his rhetoric, describing the protesters as “insurrectionists.”
It is more likely than not that the presence of the troops in the midst of ICE raids will raise, not lower, the risk of violence. The Trump administration surely knows that and may be intending for this modest Los Angeles deployment to fail, so that the administration can justify a more muscular invocation of the Insurrection Act, which would allow U.S. military personnel to perform law enforcement activities.
