Use of Federal Troops
Presidents have always been careful when forced to send federal troops into America’s cities and states, and only did so when there was a breakdown of law and order or when constitutional rights were being violated by state and local governments.
In 1957, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas national guard and sent 1,200 federal troops to enforce the Brown v Board of Education decision which proclaimed segregation was illegal and mandated integrated schools.
In 1965, Democrat Lyndon Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard and sent 2,000 federal troops to protect marchers led by Martin Luther King as they walked from Selma to Montgomery to secure voting rights that had been granted to African-Americans by the 15th Amendment in 1870.
In each case, an American President used state and federal troops to protect constitutional rights of American citizens and enforce Supreme Court decisions. Those troops were disciplined and understood their mission. Seven people were arrested by those troops in Little Rock and zero were arrested during the march from Selma to Montgomery. No Americans were killed.
Trump’s use of ICE in Minneapolis was the direct opposite of Eisenhower’s and Johnson’s. ICE was sent in via an executive order, and rather than protecting constitutional rights, they actively violated 1st, 4th. 5th, 6th, and 10th Amendment rights of residents. They also violated at least 96 court orders, arrested 3,000 people, and killed Renee Good and Alex Jeffery Pretti. Should we also add here the newest folks in Texas and Maine killed by ICE? Yes, definitely.
The last thing a reasonable person would support is allowing ICE to “supervise” elections in some states. We can’t allow a massive police agency, under the direct control of a sitting President, anywhere near polling places.
The Constitution specified that individual states control election laws. That decision should safeguard against a powerful national leader trying to rig elections. There is nothing, other than a desire to grab even more power, that gives Trump any authority over our elections.