Opinion | Is the National Guard coming to Minnesota?

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I hope we don’t see the National Guard deployed, but if the recent trend continues, it is not looking good for Minnesota.

Since June, the Trump administration has asserted federal control over National Guard troops to deploy them to four American cities, and a clear nationwide pattern has emerged.

Until now, federal deployment of troops on American soil has been rare, and historically it has been reserved for genuine emergencies, like an actual war, an armed rebellion, or to enforce federal laws if civilian agencies and courts aren’t functioning. No emergency like that exists anywhere in the country and all four recent deployments are egregious abuses of executive power. They are best understood as a culmination of carefully crafted political theater and a disturbing erosion of bedrock constitutional principles and the rule of law.

Unfortunately, the same pattern is now playing out in Minnesota.

The first step toward federal deployment is increased immigration enforcement, primarily carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol along with several agencies across the executive branch, including the FBI.

The Trump administration is exploiting fears about crime to target immigrants who have long contributed to our communities and our economy — including many with legal status, such as students, refugees, lawful permanent residents and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.

Rapid escalation is already underway in Minnesota. Take for example the violent arrest of Adan Nunez Gonzalez, a Northfield father, on Nov. 11; a militarized ICE raid at the St. Paul Bro-Tex Inc. facility on Nov. 18; and the use of rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas on a residential St. Paul street during an arrest on Nov. 25. At the same time, we have heard unhinged discriminatory and incendiary rhetoric from President Donald Trump, who has demonstrated a blatant animus toward people originally from Somalia, including Somali Americans. This includes threats to eliminate Temporary Protected Status and the announcement of ICE “strike team” operations to descend on the community. There’s real concern that this will not stop here.

In other cities, increasingly hostile ICE enforcement often resulted in a community response and overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations. However, these demonstrations have served as additional venues for federal agents to treat the public in excessively violent ways. In Chicago, we saw a priest shot in the head with rubber bullets while they prayed on the pavement. CBP officers in Chicago also pepper- sprayed a 1-year-old child, threw tear gas into a crowd without justification and rappelled from helicopters into an apartment building in the middle of the night.

In Portland, we saw an elderly couple — one of whom is a Vietnam war veteran who uses a walker — pushed to the ground by federal officers.

The cycle then intensifies. Excessive force leads to more public outcry. Ultimately, the president falsely claims an inability to enforce the law, declares a rebellion and seizes control of National Guard troops over governors’ objections. Challenges to unlawful deployments in Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago and Washington, D.C., are being litigated in the courts. So far, the governors of Oregon and Illinois have been able to prevent troop deployments in their states.

One thing is clear: People across this country have had enough of this charade that is making a mockery of the U.S. Constitution. People are tired of seeing federal authorities violating our rights to free speech, free press, peaceable assembly and due process. People are tired of the dehumanization of our neighbors, colleagues and loved ones. People know that federal troops should not police our communities.

We don’t need to wait to act. Unity of diverse voices is one of the most powerful forces in U.S. history.

The ACLU and its partners are here to bear witness, observe and document, litigate and lobby, and peacefully protest and demonstrate. There have already been remarkable stories of creative responses and public condemnation from across the political spectrum. And if the National Guard is deployed over Gov. Tim Walz’s objection, it will be up to all of us — we the people — to ensure that the rule of law and our democracy prevail. Ultimately, it will take more than the ACLU; it will take all of us to come together to call for dignity and decency and to champion fundamental American and Minnesotan values.