“Nobody knows what will happen next”: Will Donald Trump be able to use the army against immigrants – and American citizens?

Perl Harbor was. “The sovereignty of America is being attacked,” Donald Trump He announced on the first day of his return to the White House. The president’s issue of warning? “The state of national emergency on the southern border”, as described by the administration, in reference to the limits that were relatively calm of all intentions and purposes.

On the same day, he called on the leaders of the American Armed Forces to prepare for the capabilities local Law enforcement. To this end, requesting plans to summon, if necessary, is a “rebellion” law approximately 22 years that would give him the authority to send federal forces to take strict measures against the alleged southern “invasion”. Later that week, the new Minister of Defense, Higseth House, He said In his first statements in the Pentagon The army was ready to transform its priorities from possible publication abroad and to participate to “defending the regional integrity of the United States of America” ​​in compliance with the “constitution, the laws of our land and the directives of the leader.”

And at the end of last week, President Trump and the ruler Greg Abbott I reached a deal To give the National Guard in Texas a new authority to make migration arrests as long as they are alongside immigration officers and border patrol agents. This was, in fact, “legal action”, but it is usually usually seen in times of serious crises.

Such statements and actions seemed to be chilling, but they are specific: Trump and Hogseth decrees are clearly targeting immigrants who seek to destabilize the American homeland. Then again, may not. In fact, some began to wonder whether the president and the defense minister are preparing for more comprehensive beating: not only the armed package against The flow of migrants actually decreases to the borderBut also for mobilization that can be used against political opponents who are supposed to threaten the “regional integrity” of the nation – with the forces that are likely to walk in countries and cities of sanctuary, and even schools and private homes, which resist deportation orders. This, after all, Playbook of Autocrats. Remembering: Vibration of these IronClad ties to the executive and military authority is the reason for the rebellion of the colonies against the British in the first place.

What can be the president? What is the precedent to summon the rebellion law? What does individuals in the US military do to expect options that they may have to make in the coming weeks and months?

Trump should be noted that he is flirting with the recall of the rebellion law during his first administration. This law, a mixture of laws between 1792 and 1871, is granted the only power of the president to send the armed forces to rebel states, even on the objections of their governments. During the civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd, on June 1, 2020, Trump warned“If a city or state refuses to take the necessary measures to defend the life and property of its residents, I will deploy the United States army and analyze the problem quickly.” the New York Times male At a time when Trump intends to announce that he is ready to use his powers under the law, which is rarely protesting to bypass the conservatives and send forces in active service to the states that have been protests. According to what was reported by Trump from this announcement by senior White House officials and Pentagon.

But in the same month, he is an act The forces were sent to Washington, DC, the single place in the country, where he did not face opposition from a ruler. This was when the peaceful demonstrators were strongly cleared of Lafayette Square by the American Park Police, members of the National Guard and law enforcement employees from various federal agencies, including the secret service. On that occasion, the Minister of Defense Mark Esber, along with Mark Millie– He was head of the chiefs of staff, who wore clothes in the US military – briefly running with Trump in the square, and stopped in the Church of St. John, where the president presented photographs while he was carrying the Bible.

Shortly after that, the beloved Millie issued an apology for agreeing to participate in such an offer. “I should not be there,” he said during A. Start title At the National Defense University, it is an educational center for the military security and national security leadership in Washington, DC. “My presence at that moment and in that environment created a perception of the army participating in local politics. As a unified officer assigned, it was a mistake that I learned from him, and I hope to learn all of him.” Millie, now retired and recently granted a Sorry for a protective by Joe Biden, He still faces Trump’s anger – including The possibility of discounting in the rankFor this matter and other data and procedures.

The rebellion law is mysterious. Part of the reason is that sending soldiers to do the police work is risky, even when it seems justified. The last time the rebellion law was summoned almost 33 years ago. In May 1992, George called Wo Bush Marines to help repudicate Los Angeles riot works After that, the towers followed four officers accused of assaulting Rodney King. About 13,500 federal soldiers, including more than 10,000 National Guard in California, LAPD.

At some point, on the days of disturbances, seven of the marine pedestrians went with two local police officers who respond to the invitation of domestic violence. The normal situation of the police was only for the soldiers, according to Joseph Nun, A lawyer working with the Freedom and National Security Program at the Brennan Center, an independent research tank. “These Marines have now found themselves playing a role that only had little training: the role of an enforcement officer in the civil law,” he explains, explaining in a report on reforming the rebellion law. The scene describes: Someone inside the house fired a gun across the door. One of the officers shouted, “Cover”. As for the police, this meant: Hold your weapons in a ready -to -shoot position, if necessary. “Marines”, Nun writes, “according to their training, he took it as a request to suppress the fire. They assembled the house with more than 200 bullets. Surprisingly, no one was killed.”

This does not mean that the trained American soldiers are not deployed on American soil. Today, under regular legal precedents, the army is already active to support law enforcement, as it helps about 4,000 federal soldiers on the border and customs, although it is usually without the authority to arrest criminals. Meanwhile, the Pentagon runs military flights when migrants who were arrested to their home countries are returned. But these activities differ from direct participation, face to face by unified military personnel in local law enforcement matters. To take this disastrous step, Trump will have to call the rebellion law.

The first step came down this track on the opening day. Trump’s emergency command has set a 90 -day deadline for defense and internal security secretaries to develop an action plan to obtain “full operational control on the southern border, including whether the rebellion law should be called.”

Why does the president need such approval? Because of Congress checks and assets on the president’s executive authority when it comes to the use of forces. The constitution, in various ways, limits military participation in civil affairs. But it does not completely prevent the federal armed forces from taking law enforcement. Instead, a partial The prohibition of the Posse Comitaus Law of 1878 comes in information technology, the Congress explicitly prevents the federal armed forces from working as a police in the streets of the country unless this measure is authorized by Congress or the constitution. But there is one loophole of the gap that plays its role only when the president, at the time of national or governmental emergencies, calls for one -sided rebellion. According to the Brennan Center: “The rebellion law allows the president – with or without the approval of the state government – to use the army to enforce federal law or suppress a rebellion against the federal authority in the state.” Even if the state government is objecting, at the request of the president, the soldiers can go to stop rebellion and work as a police.