‘Dangerous Cities,’ the Military, Trump and the Founding Fathers
In the middle of Tuesday’s rambling speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, President Trump told hundreds of the country’s military commanders his latest thinking on where they should next set their sights.
Not Poland, or Romania, or Estonia or Denmark, all NATO allies where Russian drones have in the past month violated airspace in a challenge to the alliance’s borders.
The president chose San Francisco. Chicago. New York. Los Angeles.
“We’re going to straighten that out one by one, and this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” Mr. Trump told the generals, admirals and enlisted leaders, referring to what he has described as crime-filled urban hellscapes.
“It’s a war from within,” he said.
In that moment, the president again pitted himself against the wishes of the country’s founding fathers, historians and former military leaders say.
Aside from Dotard's view of the conditions in many US cities being downright delusional, his remedy is both illegal and goes against what the Founders intended.
1. The Federal Government is in charge of immigration.
“
Immigration enforcement. DHS’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for immigration enforcement within the U.S. This includes making arrests, providing safe confinement of noncitizens in detention facilities, and removing noncitizens.”
The federal government is responsible for conducting a number of activities to protect U.S. borders and enforce immigration laws, mainly through the...
www.gao.gov
Full stop. Regardless of how the leftist at the NYTimes want to paint it, what DHS, and ICE are doing is exactly in keeping with law.
2. The POTUS is absolutely within his authority to protect federal institutions engaged in lawful activities such as ICE, and DHS functions…
“SUBJECT: Department of Defense Security for the Protection of Department of Homeland Security Functions
Numerous incidents of violence and disorder have recently occurred and threaten to continue in response to the enforcement of Federal law by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions and supporting the faithful execution of Federal immigration laws. In addition, violent protests threaten the security of and significant damage to Federal immigration detention facilities and other Federal property. To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.
In light of these incidents and credible threats of continued violence, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard under 10 U.S.C. 12406 to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.”
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
www.whitehouse.gov
3. Crime in major cities - while POTUS must be careful to make sure that military force is not seen as providing law enforcement duties without a declaration of insurrection existing, he can deploy them to free up some administrative duties of law enforcement to get a handle on crime within a proscribed area. Also, if the President feels that the level of crime is rising to a level of rebellion, he can federalize NG and use them in limited roles.
A former FBI agent-turned-scholar says using National Guard troops to reduce crime in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore would violate legal prohibitions against domestic military law enforcement.
theconversation.com