Duckworth on Trump Seeking to Deploy National Guard for Immigration Enforcement on US Soil: “This is What Dictators Do to Destroy Democracies”
Deploying National Guardsmen to support immigration enforcement on our own soil is not part of the National Guard’s mission, and it has never happened in our nation’s history
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement after the Trump Administration reportedly sought to deploy 20,000 National Guardsmen for civilian law enforcement efforts on U.S. soil:
“I’m deeply disturbed that Donald Trump keeps escalating his abuse and misuse of our nation’s military for his own partisan benefit—claiming to do so because of make-believe foreign threats. In reality, he’s distracting our troops from executing their core mission: protecting the American people and keeping our country safe from real adversaries who wish us harm.
“In less than 4 months in office, we’ve seen Trump force servicemembers to do clerical work in support of non-military missions and threaten to unleash the military to arrest political opponents. And now, Trump’s DHS is asking for 20,000 National Guardsmen to assist with immigration enforcement within our nation’s borders—something they’ve never been asked to do before and that is not part of the National Guard’s mission.
“Not only does this undermine readiness and our national security, it also means Trump is testing the limits of how he can misuse our military against the American people. No one should believe that he will stop at immigrants if this plan moves forward. These are the sorts of things dictators do to destroy democracies and consolidate their own power—and everyone’s freedom is at risk if he succeeds.”
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