WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led his Democratic committee colleagues in a letter urging Chairman Rand Paul to convene an oversight hearing into the Trump Administration’s deployment of federalized National Guard members and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles against the wishes of state and local officials. The administration’s actions – despite warnings from state and local law enforcement that the deployments could contribute to violence – is a dangerous use of executive power that undermines state sovereignty and sets a troubling precedent for the role of the U.S. military in domestic affairs. U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and John Fetterman (D-PA) joined Peters in sending the letter.
“Maintaining public safety is the job of local law enforcement. We strongly condemn violence and support the right to peaceful protest. Local law enforcement have been dealing with these protests and both elected officials and law enforcement leaders on the ground have cautioned that sending federal service members is unhelpful,” wrote the senators.
“The U.S. military has been barred from serving as law enforcement in the United States since after Reconstruction,” continued the senators. “While the service members that the President has deployed are not yet officially carrying out law enforcement responsibilities, having them protect federal buildings and missions and putting them on the ground could lead to unintentional engagements that further escalate the situation and may ultimately lead the President to violate Posse Comitatus or use the events as a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act. This is counter to every tenet of a free society.”
“The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is the U.S. Senate’s chief oversight committee and has a strong tradition under Republican and Democratic leadership of holding the Executive Branch accountable to the law and to the American people. This is all the more important given the recent use of force and handcuffing of a Senator seeking answers for his constituents. We therefore call on you to immediately hold an oversight hearing with Administration officials, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, to provide answers regarding the administration’s dangerous and intentionally provocative actions,” the senators concluded.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
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