Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel predicts "it’s only a matter of time” before President Donald Trump tries to send national guard troops to cities in the Great Lakes State.
Trump has already sent soldiers to Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago, among other cities. That’s despite protests from the Democratic governors of those cities’ states.
Federal courts have rejected the deployments in some cases. In September, a judge ruled Trump broke the law by deploying troops to LA this past summer. More recently, a federal appeals court allowed Trump to federalize Oregon National Guard troops but blocked them from being sent to Portland.
Nessel, a Democrat, said her office is already working, as best they can, on possible legal filings if soldiers get sent here.
“It’s very fact-specific. So it’s not as though we can have pleadings that are 100% accurate now ready to be filed in the event that this occurs. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not preparing for this eventuality,” Nessel said in an interview Wednesday.
The Trump administration’s reasoning for ordering the military to American cities has ranged from assisting law enforcement to quelling alleged insurrection.
Nessel said that’s counterproductive since soldiers are trained for different situations than police.
“What it does, is it ends up interfering and undermining the work that our local law enforcement is doing and, of course, it creates distrust between members of the public and anybody in uniform,” Nessel said.
As Trump’s critics prepare for upcoming protests as part of the nationwide No Kings campaign, Nessel warned demonstrators not to give the president an excuse to send troops to Michigan.
“Protestors should do what they have been doing since Trump was sworn into office this second time. Which is to protest and to protest loudly. But to do so legally,” she said.
In general, the governor would have to authorize the use of the Michigan National Guard. But the Trump administration is testing that legal convention.
The president has also tried to use outside states’ troops to get around the issue in other states. Federalized troops from California were deployed to Oregon, and soldiers from Texas are in Illinois, for example.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Governor Gretchen Whitmer said a statement she made alongside the Democratic Governors Association “still stands.”
An August statement from the group’s members called for an end to the deployments.
“Whether it’s Illinois, Maryland and New York or another state tomorrow, the President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Republican governors in states including Tennessee and Louisiana, have welcomed National Guard assistance.
Vice President JD Vance suggested sending the National Guard to Detroit during a Michigan appearance last month. At a Michigan Republican Party conference on Mackinac Island last month, three candidates told Bridge Michigan they’d support federal intervention in Michigan’s largest city.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, an independent gubernatorial candidate, has said he doesn’t see a deployment as necessary.
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