Durbin Joins Senator Duckworth On The Floor To Denounce Deployment Of National Guard Troops To Illinois

Durbin Joins Senator Duckworth On The Floor To Denounce Deployment Of National Guard Troops To Illinois

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor along with Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to denounce the Trump Administration's deployment of Texas and Illinois National Guard troops to Illinois. In his remarks, Durbin emphasized the illegality of President Trump's deployment of troops to American cities and underscored that these actions are motivated by the President's desire to play a strongman on television rather than to help Illinoisans.

Durbin began his speech by reflecting on President Lincoln's words.

"In 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Edwardsville, Illinois… In this speech he asked, 'What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?' Lincoln emphasized that it was not America's army or the power of our weapons. The founder of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, said that it is, 'The preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.' This is what is responsible for the maintenance of our freedoms. How the Republican Party has changed from those early days," said Durbin.

Yesterday, President Trump deployed 500 National Guard troops to Illinois, ignoring pleas from elected officials across Illinois that these deployments are unwanted, unnecessary, and a dangerous escalation of a situation the President himself has created.

"The use of guard troops from Illinois, even from Texas, is totally unnecessary and creates the wrong impression. That message was clear from the business leaders of my state. But President Donald Trump didn't care what they had to say. He wanted to deploy our nation's military to Illinois, to spread fear and sow chaos, and [because of] both those efforts, sad to say, he's succeeding. 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," said Durbin.

"There is no argument, as some of my colleagues claimed during our Judiciary Committee markup this morning, that this is anything like the Civil Rights-era uses of the National Guard by multiple presidents to enforce desegregation laws when segregationist governors in the south were defying federal law and court orders," Durbin continued.

President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard after the Governor outright refused to comply with the law and prevented the Little Rock Nine from entering the previously all-white Central High School, following the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. There is no argument and no evidence whatsoever that the Governor of Illinois is disobeying federal law or court orders. In fact, the current Administration has sued Illinois to attempt to commandeer state law and force Illinois to implement this Administration's immigration policies. Courts have repeatedly found that Illinois does not have a responsibility to implement federal immigration laws, and that Illinois laws neither impede nor interfere with the enforcement of federal immigration law by federal authorities.

"They [the Trump Administration] have said quite boldly-they're looking for people who look like they're subject to our jurisdiction. They have pulled FBI, DEA, and ATF agents from their assignments to carry out the President's immigration agenda, taking them away from fighting terrorism, gun violence, human trafficking, and drug smuggling. We all know the litany that Donald Trump has repeated over and over again at political rallies and meetings since he was re-elected as president. He is trying to stop murderers, rapists, terrorists, criminally insane people, and sexual predators from coming into this country. [But] look at what's happening with this mass deportation effort that he's authorized-over 70 percent of those detained by ICE so far have no criminal record whatsoever-none whatsoever," said Durbin. "This is not about stopping crime. This is about going after immigrants."

Durbin continued, "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. How can this President say with a straight face that he wants to reduce crime in our state and cut back the very programs that law enforcement counts on to train and be prepared and be effective in [the] field in reducing crime?"

During his speech, Durbin stated that these deployments are about President Trump and Stephen Miller's personal agenda to send troops into blue cities and to deport immigrants without any criminal history, at the expense of national security and public safety. Nearly a quarter of FBI agents are now focused on immigration.

Durbin explained that, while Trump Administration officials have inflated statistics about crime in cities, the same officials have slashed funding for critical crime prevention programs and efforts. Federal immigration agents have taken the President's mass deportation scheme to the extreme, conducting nighttime raids in which people are ripped from their beds and detained with zip-ties for hours.

Durbin concluded, "For any of you who think these deployments may not affect you and it's just 'Illinois's problem,' you're wrong. The very act undermines our Constitution, and the belief in liberty above all. As President Lincoln warned in his same speech in Edwardsville, 'Destroy this spirit [of liberty] and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.' While the Guard is in Illinois now, it could be in your state next. It could be your family taken from their homes and their beds in the middle of the night in an indiscriminate raid."

Durbin concluded, "Congress must act and speak out against this increasingly authoritarian administration. We are a co-equal branch of government, and it's time we acted like one. I implore my Republican colleagues. I know their loyalty to President Trump. But I implore them to join Senator Duckworth and myself and describe these deployments for what they are-an illegal, immoral power grab by a President determined to consolidate his power and stifle any dissent. If we here, in this Senate chamber, [who] are fortunate enough to represent the people of this country, will not stand up, then who will?"

As ICE has increased its presence in the Chicago area, conducting reckless immigration raids and aggressively engaging with peaceful protesters at Broadview ICE facility, Durbin has continued to push for oversight on the facility's conditions and the brutal tactics used by federal agents during raids. In September, after Illinois delegation members were barred from entering Broadview, Durbin joined U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03) to urge ICE Field Office Director Russell Holt to promptly schedule a meeting with congressional members. ICE officials have yet to respond.

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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