Duckworth Leads Colleagues in Calling Out Against Trump’s Unconstitutional and Dangerous Deployments of Troops into American Cities

Duckworth Leads Colleagues in Calling Out Against Trump's Unconstitutional and Dangerous Deployments of Troops into American Cities

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today led a campaign on the Senate floor with U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to speak out forcefully against Trump's wrongful and dangerous deployment of U.S. military troops to intimidate Americans in their own communities. The Senators condemned Trump's egregious political abuse of our military, ignoring state and local officials and weaponizing our servicemembers against the very citizens they swore an oath to protect.

"Let's be clear: Ordering our troops to intimidate Americans in their own communities doesn't make our nation safer," said Duckworth. "These deployments are yet another Trump move straight out of the Authoritarian 101 textbook. They further jeopardize civil rights while distracting our troops from executing their core mission of keeping Americans safe from the real adversaries who wish us harm. If these deployments are not stopped, there will be nothing to stop him-or any future president-from doing this to anyone, anywhere, for any made-up reason."

"An authoritarian President-emboldened by a rubber-stamp Congress and a deferential Supreme Court-is sending military troops against American citizens who are peacefully protesting in city after city," said Merkley. "This is un-American and a fundamental violation of the purpose of our military, which is to defend us from foreign powers, not to be a tool in a President's hand to attack people who disagree with their point of view."

"The President has no legal basis for deploying federal troops to Illinois against the wishes of the Illinois Governor. There is no rebellion or insurrection happening in our state. Americans have the right under the First Amendment to protest this Administration's cruel and misguided immigration policies," Durbin said. "If the Trump Administration truly wanted to help my city of Chicago and our state of Illinois, it wouldn't defy Illinois elected leaders. It would work with us. It would restore the millions of dollars it suspended in crime prevention and public safety grants."

"I stand here with my colleagues from Oregon, Illinois, and California whose constituents are living through this threat," said Blumenthal. "It is now a reality, as much as a threat. I warned this body two years ago of this reality: unchecked power deployed unconsciously. This kind of use of the military poses a tremendous threat to all of our civil liberties, even if we are not from California or Oregon or Illinois. It could happen in Connecticut."

"Trump's unilateral action is an abuse of executive authority. He clearly seeks to incite violence and undermine the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and the states," Wyden said. "Portland's Police Department itself has said there is no need for federal agents in our city. And the department has said that the administration's deployment of ICE agents is making it harder for them to do their jobs and keep our city safe, not easier."

"Today, it's California. Today, it's Illinois. Today, it's Oregon. Where will it be tomorrow? Where does this end? I'll tell you where it ends. It ends in more civil strife. It ends in more morale problems in the military. It ends in a lesser democracy. And if we are here in nine months, where will we be with four years of this? And I'll tell you this, we will not be a democracy. At the pace we are going in four years, we will not be a democracy," said Schiff.

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