ICE, the LA Protests, and Trump’s Domestic Use of the Military
President Donald Trump has deployed some 2000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to protests against ICE deportation operations. As yet, the authority he has invoked for this domestic use of the military is very limited. See the detailed analyses of the relevant law by legal scholars Chris Mirasola and Steve Vladeck. That could change if Trump decides to invoke the Insurrection Act, which grants far broader authority to use the military for domestic law enforcement. Whether and to what extent that power is subject to significant limitations is controversial. For details, see this analysis by Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center, a leading expert on this subject.
In the meantime, I worry that the current, relatively limited, deployment of troops, might lead to dangerous escalation. An unfortunate incident caused by malicious, reckless, or foolish behavior by one or a few individuals on either side could lead to broader violence, or be used as an excuse for more extensive military intervention. So far, at least, I have not seen reports of rioting or other violence on anything like the scale that could justify the extreme expedient of domestic use of the military. But it’s a fast-moving situation, and things might be different by the time you read this.
However things turn out, it’s important to emphasize that the anti-ICE protests and resulting confrontations are in large part a result of federal immigration enforcers’ own lawless behavior. Under Trump, ICE has routinely engaged in such illegal and arbitrary practices as deporting people (including many legal immigrants) to imprisonment without due process and kidnapping children as they and their families show up for legally required court appoin
Article from Reason.com
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