National Guard confusion as troops fear turning into Trump's deportation 'Gestapo'
Some National Guard troops are concerned they'll be called up to implement Donald Trump's mass deportation plans like a Hitler-era "Gestapo" that must enforce the incoming president's far-right policies against undocumented immigrants.
Politico reported Sunday that "Some of the 435,000 troops worry they’ll get pulled into a legally murky mission rooting out people in communities where they have day jobs such as sheriffs, cops or firefighters."
But Border Czar Tom Homan claimed his top priority would be rooting out "criminals and gang members." Homan initially planned to begin the raids in Chicago, home to a high migrant population, but may be reassessing that location after it was leaked to the media.
In November, according to NBC News, "Trump confirmed a post by another Truth Social user, who wrote that the Trump administration would be 'prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets' for a deportation program. Trump shared the post, writing, 'TRUE!!!'”
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Republican governors have vowed to deploy the state-run National Guard to help achieve Trump's ends, which he claimed would begin on "day one" of his presidency, which begins Monday.
However, Politico reporters Jack Detsch, Liz Crampton and Lisa Kashinsky wrote that "blue states with control of their own Guard could simply refuse to go along."
If that's the case, "Trump has a range of options," they wrote. "He could leave the National Guard under state control but give troops federal funding to tackle the deportation mission, although that would allow individual governors to retain authority over their troops. Trump also could call the Guard up to active-duty status, which would give him greater ability to control troops in blue states and order them across state lines."
The Politico report quoted an anonymous senior military official who said Guard members "don't want to be seen as" being part of a "Gestapo" that's forced to carry out the large-scale deportations.
But Trump believes the American people granted him a mandate to carry through with mass deportations since it was a cornerstone of his campaign for president. Trump also ran on the promise that he would close the southern border with Mexico and vowed to end "birthright citizenship," a right that's firmly ensconced in the 14th Amendment.