Retired National Guard Major General Randy Manner on Monday named two “key issues” at stake due to Donald Trump sending the military to respond to Los Angeles protests against his immigration policies: the endangerment to freedom of speech and the administration’s threat to states’ rights.
“We would have never imagined ever doing this in this situation, to impede free speech, to impede what — quite frankly, for the majority of the people, has been peaceful demonstrations,” said Manner, former acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, in an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace.
Manner noted that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) didn’t ask Trump to federalize and mobilize California National Guard troops (thousands of which will be joined by hundreds of Marines) to LA, warning of the implications of troops standing side-by-side across a “picket line” from their neighbors.
California has sued Trump for deploying the California National Guard troops to subdue protests against his deportations.
“So this is a very, very dangerous and contentious situation,” he said.
Manner, who served in his National Guard Bureau under President Barack Obama, told Wallace that he doesn’t believe it’s illegal for the president to deploy the National Guard to such demonstrations.
“The question is, ‘Are they appropriate?’” Manner emphasized.
He pointed to the Department of Homeland Security recently requesting 20,000 National Guard troops to aid in immigration enforcement, adding that it “shocks” him that Congress isn’t stepping in as the cost of such a request on an annual basis is between $2 billion and $3 billion.
He claimed that the Secretary of Defense would take money from other National Guard programs or from the U.S. Army to fund those exercises. He stressed that guardsmen could be at risk of losing income as a result.
“Congress has got to step up and insist they have the authority to fund these kind of operations,” he said.