Only spouses who are experiencing health emergency as their loved ones serve on the streets of Los Angeles. An army tired from missions they had not prepared for. Children from active duty units left without parents deployed in US soil.
Brandy Jones, organisation director for the Secure Family Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for military spouses, children and veterans, said such incidents were due to the Trump administration’s decision to send troops to Los Angeles.
“We’ve heard from families who have concerns that their loved ones have sacrificed and served at the protection of the Constitution, and that all the rights it guarantees are truly under siege in a way that they could never have expected,” Jones said in a virtual press conference Thursday.
California State Guard troops are standing outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles during the June 14th protest.
(Zurie Pope / Los Angeles Times)
On the eve of Independence Day, veterans, legal scholars and active duty advocates warned that sending troops to protest in California’s biggest city would threaten democratic norms. The 147 law prohibits federal forces from being used by civil law enforcement agencies.
Dan Maurer, a retired lieutenant colonel who is now a law professor at Ohio Northern University, called the situation at a press conference “a situation where we fought from independence,” adding that President Trump is “militarizing America again.”
According to a news release from the US Northern Command, 150 National Guards have been released from the duty of protest, but about 3,950 remain in Los Angeles along with 700 Marines, protecting federal property from protests against immigration and customs enforcement.
Trump defended the deployment of the military in Los Angeles, saying on his social media platform the city would “be burning to the ground right now.” He suggests doing the same in other US cities, calling the LA development “first, perhaps of many people” at an oval office press conference.
The LA military is federated under the title 10 of US law and their range is narrow. They have no authority to arrest them, they simply detain individuals before handing over to police, and according to the Northern US Command, they are simply obligated to protect federal property and staff.
Marines detained US Army veterans in early June, but the most active involvement they and the National Guard have made in ICE activities provide safety during their arrests, according to a report by Reuters and the CBS show Face the Nation.
“The administration deployed the military unnecessary and provocatively, reflecting the very fears our founders had,” Maurer said. “Except for the name, I use the military as police.”
“The closer they get [the military] Act to provide security around the perimeter… the closer they get to restrain an individual, the closer they are to approach individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants.
Other speakers argued that the use of the military in Los Angeles puts service members at risk, putting them in an environment they have never been trained to capture them against American citizens.
“Our Marines are our country’s impact troops, and it’s completely inappropriate that they are deployed on the streets of Los Angeles,” said Joe Prenzler, a Marine Combat Veteran who currently serves as the Arms Platoon Commander for the second Batalion 7 Marine Corps and executive officer of the company.
Plenzler recalls that over half of the men who served in the second Batalion came from Spanish-speaking families, some in the country as legal permanent residents with green cards, but still had not enjoyed all the benefits of citizenship.
California State Guard members will be deployed in downtown LA at the June 14th protest
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“Think about what they may be passing through their heads now, as they are ordered to ice arrest and deport hardworking people who look like those they see at their family reunions,” Prenzler said.
Prenzler also contrasted the training received by Marines with those of civil law enforcement.
“We’re not police,” Prenzler said. “Marriers are not trained in the escalator tactics necessary for community policing. They generally do not deploy their troops in civilian environments, usually to increase the risk of excessive force, illegal death, and erosion of public trust.”
During the 1992 LA Riots, Marines responded to domestic conflicts at LAPD. One officer asked the Marines to hide him, and they fired 200 rounds into the house, mistakenly believing he was asking them to fire.
“Our forces are not ready, over-stretched and overwhelmed,” said Christopher Purdy, founder of the nonprofit veteran advocacy group The Chamberlain Network and veteran of the Army National Guard.
“Guard units that perform these missions often do them with minimal preparation,” Purdy said, noting that many units are given a single civil unrest training block per year.
“When I deployed to Iraq, we spent weeks of intense training on cultural capabilities, local laws and customs, how to run a fusion of civil and combat operations,” Purdy said. “If you don’t accept such shortcuts for combat deployments, why are you accepting that now when troops are on the frontlines of American streets?”
Each speaker reflects the importance of holding these men and women accountable not only for the federal government’s aggressive treatment of troops, but also for how these men and women are used in American soil.
“I reflect this July 4th in both my promise and responsibility for freedom. Preparing military families is preparation for strength,” Jones said. “At the Secure Family Initiative, we hear from active families. If the family is thinning, or if the military is being used against civilians, we cannot maintain our strength.”
Maurer added: “The rule of law means absolutely nothing if we entrust ourselves with faithfully ignoring and freely ignoring it democratically to enforce it. And I think that’s what we are.”
