New Orleans There’s nothing like federal immigration officials doing mass arrest roundups in workplaces, especially in urban America, to get everyone out in the streets. What Trump and his mad dog aide, Stephen Miller, don’t understand is how embedded immigrants, undocumented and not, are in American communities, workplaces, and families. These are not alien others, these are people living next door, working behind the counter where you stop daily, sitting in the lunchroom in the next table where you work, going to your church, helping paint your house, fix your roof, and more. When the government goes after them, it’s personal for Americans, not some pawn on a political chessboard, so of course there will be protests, and lots of them.
This whole “invasion” framing has had some traction at the southern border. Texas Governor Abbott has made political hay with that for years. When the National Guard from various states is sent there, the pictures stream backfilled with boredom, as the numbers trying to cross have plummeted. Republicans like to twist and shout about long lines of marching migrants coming towards the USA, but most never get that far, so it’s not much of an invasion. Governors mobilizing the guard with federal cooperation are play the political game, but even when opposed, no one argues that these soldiers are being put into action against US civilians. It’s not next door, but a long way away for most Americans.
The situation now is altogether different. Trump is trying to push the limits once again and establish that the military is his own special political and personal weapon that he can wield against domestic enemies and protestors at his whim. That’s wrong, and it’s dangerous to democracy. Civilian control means that the order can be given, but nothing in any military order should be directed against protests.
California Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Bass make good points, when they argue that all of this is inflammatory. Tragically, that’s exactly what Trump wants it to be in order to try and rationalize his deployment of some 5000 Guard and Marines. Furthermore, he is threatening to mobilize troops more broadly in other cities as well. Their authority under the act triggering the call is to protect federal facilities and workers. A rule of engagement along those lines would not include actual participation in immigration arrests, yet we read – and see – that happening as well. In the US, troops have not been trained for this assignment. They are trained to fight and kill, not to defuse tense situations or handle mass protests. What could go wrong? The short answer is, EVERYTHING!
Trump needs to be careful what he’s asking for. His actions have wakened the sleeping left and middle of the roaders. There are protests, big and small, now happening throughout the country. In city after city, these demonstrations have been overwhelmingly peaceful, and even when there’s a flareup here or there, local policy and authorities have been more than able to deal with it. Now, organizers are putting together the “No Kings” march and protests to coincide with Trump’s Russian-North Korea style more than $100-million military parade in Washington, DC.
People have wondered where the protests are in Trump 2.0. Keep attacking communities and their workplaces, and they will be seen everywhere. Keep mobilizing the military against civilian protests and protected constitutional rights, and there won’t be an end to the protests until it is stopped. No one is waiting for the courts to act, when soldiers are coming for them for no good reason.