Illinois, Oregon, & California Senators Issue Warning About Trump’s Dangerous, Unconstitutional Deployments of National Guard Troops into Their States

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - The six United States Senators representing states that Donald Trump has sought to force National Guard deployments to, against state and local officials' objections, without any coordination and in the absence of adequate justification-U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Adam Schiff (D-CA)-today issued the following statement condemning the President's threats against their states:

"Donald Trump is stretching the limits of Presidential authority far past their breaking point and moving us closer to authoritarianism with each dangerous and unacceptable escalation of his campaign to force federal troops into American communities against the wishes of sovereign states in the Union he is supposed to represent.

"Whether in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Portland, the Trump Administration continues fabricating claims of chaos and crime on American streets to justify his false assertions that there is a 'need' to deploy troops into our cities-all while literally defunding our police by cutting funding that helps local law enforcement make our cities safer.

"None of our states asked for this. None of our states need this. And none of our National Guard Troops-who are our friends and neighbors-signed up to intimidate their fellow Americans in their own communities or to be used as political pawns by a vindictive President. Donald Trump should immediately reverse course and end these un-American deployments."

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