The Next Stage of Trump's Takeover

American fascism rises

The system is broken. It doesn’t work for working people. In order to distract Americans from this reality, President Donald Trump continues his authoritarian power grab. Instead of being mad at billionaires, oligarchy and kleptocracy, he wants us to hate our neighbors.

As a US Army and Illinois Army National Guard veteran, I’m absolutely disgusted and disheartened with the state of our nation. I’m not surprised, however, since I’ve been paying attention to the rising right-wing movements in America for many years. It still doesn’t make it easier to stomach our new reality, though.

Early warning signs of fascism include power and continuing nationalism, a disdain for human rights, and identification of enemies as a unifying cause. There’s also supremacy of the military, controlled mass media, rampant sexism, and obsession with national security, to name a few more.

Unfortunately, we’re not moving towards an authoritarian state, anymore. We’re here. How long it lasts depends on how we respond from here.

ICE violence continues to escalate

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continue to increase violence against people in America, as they expand their operations. We’ve seen it across America - especially in Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In Chicago, armed federal agents in military uniforms conducted an illegal and unprecedented raid on a South Shore apartment complex. They flew in on Blackhawk helicopters and rappelled down the side of a building before busting down doors.

They pulled men, women and children (including US citizens) from their apartments - some of them naked. Agents approached or entered nearly every apartment in the five-story building.

They dragged residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and threw them into U-Haul vans. They even zip tied children together.

Meanwhile, protestors have gathered outside an ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois for over a month. Each week, ICE has escalated its violence against these peaceful protestors.

First, agents threw peaceful protestors to the ground. Then, they started to use pepper bullets, tear gas, and flash bang grenades against the crowd.

For months, Democratic lawmakers stated that local law enforcement will not assist ICE with their immigration enforcement operations. Last Friday, however, Illinois State Police officers were seen on video hitting protestors. They stood alongside camouflaged federal officers from local and federal agencies.

Unlawful National Guard mobilizations

In June, President Donald Trump and the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, illegally deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles to stand in front of a few federal buildings and protect federal law enforcement officers, including ICE, which cost taxpayers $120 million dollars.

In the end, a federal judge ruled that this violated the Posse Comitatus Act, since federalized military forces are not allowed to participate in law enforcement activities, unless the President declares an insurrection.

Then, in August, Trump activated the D.C. National Guard under a false crime narrative. Shortly after, he threatened to deploy the military to the streets of Chicago.

A little over a week ago, Trump told Hegseth to deploy the military to “war ravaged Portland” and authorized “full force.” He also labeled “Antifa” as a terrorist organization and signed a directive called NSPM-7, which labeled common beliefs as indicators of terrorism.

Last Tuesday, Trump suggested to a room full of military generals and admirals that the US military could use cities like Chicago as a training ground. He told our top military leaders to prepare for a war against “an enemy from within.”

Then, on Saturday, Trump and Hegseth illegally activated 300 Illinois National Guard members to protect ICE, which also violates the Posse Comitatus Act.

After a federal judge blocked President Trump’s attempt to deploy 200 Oregon National Guard members to Portland, he ordered the California National Guard to deploy there. Later in the evening, Secretary Hegseth ordered Texas Governor Greg Abbott to deploy 400 members of the Texas National Guard to Chicago, Portland, and other US cities for up to 60 days.

This is what authoritarians do. Crime is not up in major American cities - it’s down. This isn’t about crime, though. This is a power grab. With every deployment, our federal government continues to normalize the use of US military forces in American cities.

Our President’s actions have dismantled established norms that limit the military’s role in domestic affairs. This is what it means to shift the Overton window. Things that once seemed unthinkable and radical now seem acceptable or even sensible, at least to a large percentage of the population.

Organizations like the ACLU and Brennan Center have warned that deploying the military against American civilians poses an intolerable threat to individual liberty and is dangerous for American democracy. Unfortunately, Trump wants to use the US military as his personal police force to target his political enemies and our immigrant communities.

All military service members must disobey unlawful orders, so I ask our military leaders to start there. Unfortunately, there is a lot of grey area, since the question of legality is always determined after the fact. Federalized military forces must not engage in law enforcement activities, and they must not use force against American civilians.

Luckily, the states of CaliroOregon and Illinois have already filed legal challenges against these illegal military deployments. However, Texas National Guard Soldiers are already in transit to the streets of Chicago.

Where do we go from here?

It’s important to note how abnormal our current situation is. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone who will listen. This is not normal and we cannot allow the presence of ICE and the National Guard in our cities to become the new normal.

Our immigration system IS broken. However, the problem is not “crime.” It’s an administrative problem - a paperwork problem.

We need to stop talking about “crime” and start talking about how to fix our flawed process. There is honor in immigration and we need to increase pathways to US citizenship.

Undocumented immigrants commit far less crimes than US-born citizens. Recent studies show that 72% of undocumented immigrants detained by ICE possess no criminal record. Many who do have convictions only have minor ones, like a traffic violation.

I’ve spoken with many people who have been trying to immigrate through legal means for over thirty years. Rather than fixing the problems with our current immigration system, our tax dollars continue to fund attacks on our immigrant communities.

It’s past time to create more pathways to citizenship and stop demonizing our fellow humans. Furthermore, the increased militarization of American cities must end.

We must increase our peaceful protesting efforts across the country to make it known that we do not want or need ICE or the National Guard in our communities. These federal funds should be used to ensure people’s basic needs are met.