WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTWO/WAWV)— Combat Veteran and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced a bill Thursday that aims to curb the president’s power to deploy the armed forces to police citizens.
According to the news release from Senator Duckworth’s Office, the bill aims to curb what she believes is a misuse of the military for civilian law enforcement means. The press release states that the core mission of the armed forces is to protect and defend Americans from foreign threats.
The name of the bill is the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act, and it aims to reform grey areas in the law that could be exploited to divert taxpayer dollars to send the military to police citizens and take attention away from the current administration’s stated focus of the military being ready for war.
“The unjustified, un-American deployment of our military into our cities is pulling resources and attention away from our Armed Forces’ core missions to the detriment of our national security,” said Senator Duckworth. “This egregious abuse of our military did not start in California—it’s been a plan since Trump’s first day in office. And with every executive order he’s signed to ‘use national security assets for law and order,’ the Administration continues to blur the lines between our military and law enforcement. Enough is enough—my legislation would curb the misuse of our military for civilian law enforcement, help protect and restore public trust in our Armed Forces, and preserve Americans’ civil rights.”
The release states that the incidents in California are a part of a plan to reorient the military away from warfighting and toward intimidating Americans in their communities. The release states that in April, President Trump signed an executive order to redirect the Defense Department’s priorities toward supporting domestic law enforcement. The Executive Order in question is titled Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens, which states in section 3, “The Attorney General and other appropriate heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall take all appropriate action to maximize the use of Federal resources to:
(i) provide new best practices to State and local law enforcement to aggressively police communities against all crimes.”
The new bill aims to make it harder for the current administration to use the legality of the Title 10 U.S. Code Subtitle A Chapter 15 Part I – military support for civilian law enforcement agencies, which states that military forces are to be used in a supporting role. The release states that this bill will change the requirements to prohibit indirect military support to civilian law enforcement unless it is in specific emergency circumstances, and would require congressional approval for any that lasts longer than two weeks.
The list of possible emergency circumstances in which the domestic response needs are expected to exceed the capacity of civilian law enforcement is:
- humanitarian crises
- natural disasters
- public health emergencies
- attacks on critical infrastructure
- nuclear attacks
- domestic terrorist incidents
- preparations for a major U.S. event
The bill would also not allow members of the Department of Defense to hold a role in civilian law enforcement unless they are members of the Army Reserves or National Guard and hold a law enforcement role. It also includes a change to 10 USC 723, where members of the Armed Forces or Federal Law Enforcement are required to visibly display their identifier and the name of the organization for all scenarios involving civilian authorities, instead of just civil disturbances.
“I don’t condone violence or property destruction, but using active-duty Marines this way sets a dangerous precedent that risks damaging public trust in our military and politicizing a military force that must remain mission-focused,” said Senator Duckworth. “President Trump is asking Marines to be away from their families for a situation that the President himself said was ‘simmering, but not very much.’”
