WASHINGTON, D.C. – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, released the following statement amid reports that the Department of Homeland Security requested 100 military personnel be sent to Illinois.
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“Donald Trump continues threatening Chicago and Illinois with his unwarranted, unwanted and unjust military deployments. Now, his administration is seriously considering plans to deploy 100 troops purportedly to protect federal immigration agents who have used excessive force against Americans simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Officials elected by the people of Illinois have made clear to Trump that there is no need for the military on the streets of Illinois. This is government overreach at its worst.
“Even as Trump violates the law and stokes chaos as a pretext for deploying troops, our local law enforcement will continue prioritizing Illinoisans’ rights and public safety. This should be the work of civilian law enforcement agencies—that Trump has been defunding—not our military men and women.
“No matter the city—whether in LA, DC, Memphis, Portland, Chicago or anywhere else in this country—policing Americans is fundamentally not the military’s job. Deploying the military to American streets takes them away from their critical missions combating foreign enemies and erodes the trusted relationship between the public and the servicemembers who are meant to protect them.
“Donald Trump’s dangerous pattern of politicizing our nation’s military and forcing our troops to turn against their fellow Americans is as un-American as it gets, and it has to stop.”
