WASHINGTON (AP) — During his first term as president, Donald Trump tested the limits of how he could use the military to achieve policy goals. If the Republican and his allies win a second term, they are preparing to go much further and reimagine the military as an all-powerful tool to deploy on American soil.
He has pledged to recall thousands of U.S. troops from abroad and station them at the U.S. border with Mexico. He has researched the use of troops for domestic policy priorities such as deportations and combating civil unrest. He has spoken of rooting out military officers who are ideologically opposed to him.
Trump’s vision amounts to a potentially dramatic shift in the military’s role in American society, with serious consequences for both the country’s place in the world and the restrictions traditionally placed on the military’s domestic use.
As Trump’s campaign enters its final stages against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, he is promising strong action against immigrants who lack permanent legal status. Speaking in Colorado on Friday, the Republican described the city of Aurora as a “war zone” controlled by Venezuelan gangs, even though authorities say it was a single block from suburban Denver and that the area is safe again.
“I will save Aurora and every city that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said at the rally. “We will put these cruel and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country.”
The former president and his advisers are developing plans to shift the military’s priorities and resources, even as wars rage in Europe and the Middle East. Trump’s top priority in his platform, known as Agenda 47, is to implement tough measures on the U.S.-Mexico border by moving “thousands of troops currently stationed abroad” to that border. He also vows to “declare war” on cartels and deploy the Navy in a blockade that would board ships and inspect them for fentanyl.
Trump has also said he will use the National Guard and possibly the military as part of the operation to deport millions of immigrants who do not have permanent legal status.
While Trump’s campaign declined to discuss the details of those plans, including how many troops he would move from overseas assignments to the border, his allies have not been shy about portraying the operation as a sweeping mission that would use the most powerful tools of the federal government. in new and dramatic ways.
“There could be an alliance between the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. These three departments need to be coordinated in a way that perhaps has never been done before,” said Ron Vitiello, who served under Trump as acting director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
While both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations have long deployed military assets to the border, the plans would mark a striking escalation of the military’s involvement in domestic policy.
Advocates of human rights and civil liberties are alarmed.
“They are promising to use the military in mass raids on American families on a scale that harkens back to some of the worst things our country has done,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group.
In Congress, which has the power to limit the use of military force through funding and other authorizations, Republicans are largely behind Trump’s plans.
“The reason I support Donald Trump is because he will secure the border on Day 1. That could be misinterpreted as a dictator. No, he has to secure the border,” said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Many Republicans argue that Trump’s rhetoric on immigration reflects reality and points to the need for military action.
“There is a case that this is an invasion,” said Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina, a Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “You look at 10 million people, many of whom are not here for a better future, and unfortunately this has become necessary. This is a problem that the Biden and Harris administrations have created.”
Still, Trump’s plans to move military assets from abroad could further fuel tension within the Republican Party between those who are hawkish on foreign policy and Republicans who promote Trump’s “America First” isolationism.
Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, insisted that Trump would not move active-duty troops to the border, even though Trump’s platform clearly states he would.
In the Senate, where more traditional Republicans still hold sway, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, issued a statement encouraging the Defense Department to help with border security, but adding that the efforts “must be led by the Department of Homeland Security.”
Trump’s plans for the military may not stop at the border.
As Trump completes a campaign marked by serious threats to his life, his aides already made an unusual request to transport him by military aircraft amid growing concerns about threats from Iran.
During his first term, as riots and protests against police brutality roiled the country, Trump also pushed for the use of military personnel. Top military officers, such as then-General Mark Milley, opposed these plans, including issuing a memo emphasizing that every member of the military “swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution and the values enshrined in it.”
Trump’s potential actions would likely require him to invoke war or emergency powers, such as carrying out mass deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law, or suppressing unrest under the Insurrection Act, a law from 1807 that allows a president to deploy the military in his own country. and against American citizens. It was last used by President George HW Bush in 1992 during riots in Los Angeles after police officers beat black motorist Rodney King.
Ahead of a possible second term for Trump, Democrats in Congress tried to modernize presidential powers like the Insurrection Act, but found little success.
That has led them to instead issue dire warnings that Trump now has fewer guardrails over how he might use the military. He has demonstrated an ability to bend institutions to his will, from a Supreme Court willing to reconsider long-standing interpretations of presidential powers to an army of officers and leaders likely to push back on his plans.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who introduced legislation to update the Insurrection Act, said the plans “clarify Donald Trump’s total misunderstanding of the U.S. military as a force for national defense, and not because of his personal preferences to issue of demagoguery. ”
But Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, underscored how many people in his party are comfortable with using the military to crack down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
“Whatever fixes the border, I think we’re OK with it,” he said.
