Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal are pressing President Joe Biden to issue a directive that could limit Donald Trump's capability to deploy U.S. military forces domestically when he takes office on January 20.
In a letter addressed to Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the senators, both members of the Armed Services Committee, proposed that federal troops or National Guard personnel only be deployed domestically if local or state authorities ask for federal help or cannot maintain public order.
"We write to urge you to issue a policy directive that prohibits the mobilization of active-duty military or federalizing National Guard personnel to be deployed against their fellow Americans unless specifically authorized," the senators wrote, as reported by NBC News.
Trump said he is planning on declaring a national emergency and use the U.S. military to secure the southern border and help carry out his mass deportation plans.
In a pre-election interview, Trump referred to "radical left lunatics" as a significant internal threat, adding, "It should be very easily handled by... the military, if necessary."
Federal law generally restricts the use of the military in domestic law enforcement under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act. However, the Insurrection Act provides an exception, allowing the president to deploy troops during civil unrest or insurrection.
Critics argue the act's broad language gives the executive branch excessive discretion.
Joseph Nunn, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice, has called for reforms to the Insurrection Act, warning that its current form creates a dangerous loophole. "Unless Congress acts now... there's little anyone could do to stop him," Nunn previously wrote.
The senators also urged the Biden administration to require congressional consultation for any domestic deployment of troops. They noted that a recent Supreme Court decision expanding presidential immunity for official acts made this issue even more pressing.
"If unaddressed," they warned, "any ambiguity on the lawful use of military force, coupled with President-elect Trump's demonstrated intent to utilize the military in such dangerous and unprecedented ways, may prove to be devastating." The Biden administration has not yet responded to the senators' request.
Trump's top immigration policy adviser, Stephen Miller, claimed in an interview that the income administration would unite local police and federal officers to fulfill the president-elect's plans for widespread deportations. "Police officers are going to be desperate to work with, to work alongside federal law enforcement officers to clean out these nests of criminal aliens", Miller said.
However, experts have raised doubts about the feasibility of the plan, given the scale and cost involved. Deporting just 1 million of the estimated 11 million people living unlawfully in the U.S. could cost $7 billion, according to a recent study by the American Immigration Council.
The plan is likely to face significant hurdles, includig legal challenges in the federal courts. Juan Carlos Gomez, director of Florida International University's immigration law clinic, said that the U.S. Constitution and previous case rulings would not allow Trump to use the U.S. military to enforce immigration. Previous presidents have deployed soldiers in domestic territories, but only during wartime, such as the Mexican-American War in 1845 or the War of 1812. "Hopefully judges act to limit any abuses of the law," Gomez said.
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