Trump Administration Flagrantly Abuses Power in Los Angeles

Washington, D.C. – In response to President Trump’s decision to defy state and local officials and call National Guard personnel into federal service under 10 U.S.C. 12406, a statute with language addressing instances where the United States faces “invasion,” “rebellion,” or a breakdown in the ability of the President to otherwise execute the laws, Human Rights First’s President and CEO Uzra Zeya said the following:

It is outrageous for the President to claim that the peaceful protests of Angelenos constitute a ‘rebellion.’ The Trump administration deployed armored combat vehicles into American communities as part of its draconian immigration enforcement efforts and in a brazen attempt to stoke fear and intimidation. It now seeks to capitalize on the backlash its own actions provoked in an effort to wrest authority from elected state and local officials and trample on the rights of Angelenos. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Defense’s threat to deploy active-duty Marines to American streets brings to mind the bluster of tin-pot dictators and insults the integrity of the U.S. military and their solemn oath to uphold the Constitution.

Make no mistake: in the United States, people have every right to protest immigration enforcement overreach that targets hardworking Black and Brown community members. The Trump administration’s attempted crackdown on this exercise of our nation’s fundamental freedoms is as over-the-top as it is illegitimate. These actions undermine our democracy and put all Americans at risk.

Today, I stand in solidarity with my Los Angeles-based colleagues at Human Rights First, the asylum-seekers and communities we serve, and with all Angelenos who reject the federal government’s overbearing intrusion into their neighborhoods and brutal separation of families. And I have every confidence that the servicemen and women dragooned into this fiasco—who are bound by the law, and not the President’s whim—will conduct themselves with restraint and reject any illegal orders. 

To speak with Zeya, who is traveling to Los Angeles, please contact [email protected].