By Mel Wilson, NASW Senior Policy Advisor
The deployment of federal troops against American citizens, especially in direct opposition to the concerns of state and local leadership, represents an unacceptable overreach of executive power. This is what has occurred in Los Angeles.
It goes without saying that such an action undermines the core principles of democracy, disregarding the constitutional rights that protect people from governmental authoritarianism. By unilaterally disregarding these safeguards without consulting California’s governor or the mayor of Los Angeles, President Trump has eroded public trust and escalated tensions.
Therefore, we all must demand the withdrawal of the national guard and certainly strongly speak out against any notion of deploying 700 US Marines to the city, as has been ordered by the Secretary of Defense.
In a recent social justice brief on mass deportation, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) expressed its deep concerns about the dire consequences of Trump’s executive order to round up thousands of undocumented individuals and families. Thie deployment of the national guard to enforce mass deportation was one such alarm raised by NASW.
What is more, the Trump administration – with this current action in Los Angles and recent illegal deportation of over 250 Venezuelans to El Salvador- has shown its disregard for the constitutional rights of American citizens and non-citizens alike. To that point, all Americans have the fundamental right to peaceful protest, and using armed forces to suppress that right violates our most basic constitutional principles.
The constitution is unambiguous about its protections of the rights of citizens to assemble, and the explicit prohibition of military intervention into domestic disputes. While there are laws such as the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act that permit federal intervention, these laws are written very narrowly and have been used very rarely in American history. However, there are many who suspect that the Trump administration – in its overzealous intervention in Los Angeles – seeks to provoke protestors to “cross the line” thereby justifying the administration to invoke the aforementioned laws.
What is absolute is that the unwise and unwarranted mass deportation policies are directly responsible for the ensuing turmoil brewing in America. For that reason, all Americans need to stand up against the dangerous and oppressive actions taken in Los Angeles – this is not who we are as a nation.
How can social workers take action? Read this statement and guidance from the NASW California Chapter.
